October 12, 2025 • 24 mins
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SPEAKER_00 (00:11):
All right, Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11.
Verse 11 is what we'll be today.
Hebrews 11.
11.
And if you would like to uhlater on flip to Genesis, you
(00:32):
can sort of have an idea whereGenesis 15 is, but it's not that
hard to find.
You'll be good.
Hebrews 11.
11.
All right.
Well, we're talking about faithhere in Hebrews chapter 11.
It's a little visit to the hallof faith as it's known in many
(00:53):
circles.
And uh we've seen variousexamples of faith.
We've seen Abel and Enoch andNoah.
Now we're camped out on the lifeof Abraham.
Uh few weeks here with Abraham.
Pretty important person in thishall of faith.
Uh, Romans chapter 4 lets usknow that he's the father of
(01:15):
those who would believe, uh,father of the faithful.
Um, and a large chunk of Genesisuh chapters 11 through 25 really
uh have to do with Abraham andhis life and his development in
faith.
And it's really uh quite theaccount as he's taken, we saw
last time, uh, a guy in a placecalled Ur of the Chaldees, an
(01:39):
idol worshiper.
Uh he's taken from this pointwhere no record of any
understanding of who God is, andGod leads him out, and God
begins to work in his life.
And it's a very sweet account inGenesis there of this one,
Abraham, just a normal guylearning to walk by faith.
Now, um, faith today we'll seeis in the waiting.
(02:04):
The faith that we'll seedemonstrated today is in the
waiting, and it's the faith towait.
Um, nobody in the Bible pictureswaiting better than Abraham and
Sarah, waiting decades for justa hint at God's promises.
(02:25):
And uh this is relevant, right?
Because none of us like waiting.
It involves patience.
Uh, we want our stuff now,right?
From waiting to the end of theschool day for some of us to
waiting uh for a wedding day forothers.
Uh what we're waiting for cannever come fast enough.
I mean, goodness, uh, most of uscan't even wait through the
(02:46):
microwave for our frozen burritoto cook, right?
You know, it's three, two, youknow, it's good enough.
And there's just that perpetualone second on the microwave
there from the time that wecouldn't wait.
Um, but waiting is one of God'sfavorite answers to wait.
It requires faith.
(03:08):
And during the waiting, Godbuilds our faith.
Um, in the waiting, we are oftenforced to trust God.
So let's jump in here, Hebrewschapter 11.
Let's read verse 11 through 16,what we'll look at today.
Hebrews 11, 11.
(03:30):
By faith, Sarah herself alsoreceived strength to conceive
seed, and she bore a child whenshe was past the age, because
she judged him faithful, who hadpromised.
Therefore, from one man and himas good as dead.
That's an encouraging way tolook at Abraham there in his uh,
(03:52):
well, at this point, in his 90s,as good as dead, were born as
many as the stars and the sky inmultitude, innumerable as the
sand which is by the seashore.
And these all died in faith, nothaving received the promises,
but having seen them afar off,were assured of them, embraced
them, and confess that they werestrangers and pilgrims on the
(04:16):
earth.
For those who say such thingsdeclare plainly that they seek a
homeland, and truly, if they hadcalled to mind that country from
which they had come out, theywould have had opportunity to
return.
But now they desire a better,that is a heavenly country.
Therefore, God is not ashamed tobe called their God, for he has
prepared a city for them.
(04:38):
So here we see the waiting therein verses 11 and 12.
The waiting for the promisedson.
You perhaps know this story.
Isaac was the promised son giventhere to Abraham in Genesis 15.
God promised to make Abraham apeople uh living in the promised
(05:01):
land.
Um, he's not seeing it for agood eight to ten years.
And there in Genesis 15, Abrahampresumes and has a conversation
with God where he says, youknow, maybe, maybe it's um my
servant Eliezer.
Maybe he'll be the one to startthis nation with.
And God responds to Abraham inGenesis 15, verse 4.
(05:25):
If you're there, you can look atit.
Uh, Genesis 15, 4, and behold,the word of the Lord came to
Abraham, saying, This one shallnot be your heir, but one who
will come from your own bodyshall be your heir.
Then he brought him outside andsaid, Look now toward heaven,
count the stars if you were ableto number them.
(05:46):
And he said to him, So shallyour descendants be.
Verse 6.
And he believed in the Lord, andGod accounted it to him for
righteousness.
So here we see Abraham gettingthis very distinct promise.
You are gonna have actualliteral descendants from your
body.
(06:07):
Uh, the Hebrew nation, the Jewswould come from Abraham's own
body, Isaac, right?
And you know the story there.
They're given this promise inAbraham and Sarah, they wait and
they trusted God, and out poppedIsaac.
Not quite.
But we see the struggle thatthey had.
(06:29):
Uh, this is a very common themein the Bible: the waiting for a
child, Abraham and Sarah.
Rebecca, Abraham'sdaughter-in-law, struggled with
barrenness.
And Isaac prayed for her, andthey got two, Jacob and Esau.
Um, and and and even Jacob'swife, Rachel, struggled and
(06:54):
spoke to Jacob at one point.
Give me a child or I will die.
And and this barrenness, sheeventually had Joseph, uh, and
later Benjamin.
Later in the time of the judges,we see this thing of barrenness.
Uh, a woman named Hannah waitsfor a child, desires a child.
(07:16):
She's praying and she's cryingout to God, God, just please
give me a child.
And and she's just hit to thecore.
Now, these are things that hitus deep inside.
Wanting to have children, notbeing able to have children.
Uh, that was a story in our lifeuh for so many years, unable.
(07:41):
And I get it, right?
I remember uh the tears.
I remember just crying out, God,why would you give me desire for
this thing and not uh give themto me?
And it just rips our guts out,right?
To put it plainly, right?
These things, these desires forsomething that we don't have,
and we all have very uniquethings that we desire in our
(08:03):
life.
And so many times the thing thatGod tells us is wait.
Um, and so we see here thepromise is made, a nation, but
yet they had to wait.
There's also the waiting inverse 13 and 14 for a homeland.
Um, verse 14 specifically, theysought a homeland.
(08:28):
Uh, now this is something thatthat generation, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, they never really sawwith their eyes.
We read that a little laterthere.
Um, and yet God says, this isthe promise.
Your people are gonna have ahomeland.
Wait for it.
Um, there's so much that we waitfor in life, and so many times
(08:48):
God just says, You're gonna haveto trust me and wait.
But the question is, how do wewait?
How can we wait?
Well, I think there's some goodlessons here to look at.
So let's look at him in verse11, number one.
They discovered personally thefaithful God.
Look at verse 11.
(09:10):
It says there they judged himfaithful who had promised.
Uh, they discovered personallywho God was.
Uh, they discovered that he wasfaithful, they understood that
he was faithful.
Now, check it out.
Being faithful is not justsomething God does.
God just, that's not somethinghe does, it's something he is.
(09:33):
As we look at the character andthe attributes of God, God is
faithful.
It's said many times in theBible, Deuteronomy 7 9.
He is God the faithful one.
Hosea 11, 12.
Uh, he is the holy one who isfaithful.
1 Corinthians 1 9, Paul says,God is faithful.
(09:56):
So we see it over and overagain.
It's not just what he does, it'swho he is.
God is faithful.
And it is one of those thingsthat God can't be.
It's unfaithful.
Uh we realize that God can doanything, nothing is impossible
with God.
But there's a few things that heactually can't do.
He can't learn, right?
(10:18):
God will never learn because heknows everything, he's
omniscient, right?
Um, but he also can't lie.
It's impossible for God to liebecause he will not fail.
He always does exactly what hesays he will do.
Now, Abraham and Sarah, theylearn that through their life.
(10:39):
They learn that God is faithfuland they learn to trust him.
Um also, though, look at verse13.
They learned to discover himpersonally, but they were also
deeply convinced.
Assured is the word in verse 13of the promises.
The word assured there could beconvinced.
(11:01):
That's a good word to use forassured, convinced.
Um, sometimes we think about theChristian life as a life by
blind faith.
Right?
I just trust God, I don't seeit, but I trust Him.
Yeah, it's it's part of life.
But there's a lot of things youcan be convinced of.
There's a lot of reasons tobelieve.
(11:21):
There's a lot of reasons tobelieve that what we see around
us didn't just happen, bang, ithappened.
That God created the heavens andthe earth.
There's a lot of good proof thatyou can be convinced of.
Um, you can be convinced that heis there, that he knows.
Um, all these things we can beconvinced in our life.
(11:45):
And Abraham and Sarah, they wereconvinced of the promise.
Now, I'm gonna disagree thatthey were totally, they weren't
totally convinced, right?
We see times where their faithis high and their faith is low,
and sometimes they doubt, andsometimes they believe, but
we're just gonna say here, theywere assured, they were
(12:06):
convinced that God, beingfaithful, will do the things he
says.
The third one here, though, lookat verse 13 also.
They drew into the promises.
Look at the word embraced,right?
They embraced under the rightcircumstances.
I'm a big hugger, I can do that,maybe making some uncomfortable
(12:27):
sometimes.
Uh, but you experience that inyour life, don't you?
Like, you know, when your kidsget through a situation uh, you
know, where there's danger andthey run up to you and they just
give you this big, big bear hug,and they're scared.
Um, when I went away for thefirst time in our married life
uh on, I think it was a missionstrip, I surprised Leela at the
(12:49):
door of the place where she wasstaying.
I knocked and she wasn'texpecting me.
I just remember that was likethe biggest hug.
She was crying, she's laughing,she you know, and it's just a
big hug embrace, took it in,brought close.
Um, here they embrace thepromises of God.
Pretty sweet, sweet picture toembrace the promises of God.
(13:13):
Um, the promised son, theypulled that promise in as their
own.
Now we're gonna say they can seethey struggled, but that's a
great way to look at thepromises of God, to bring it in
where Jesus says, if I go, we'llread, I'll come again.
To bring it close in your life.
(13:34):
I believe that and I embrace it,I love it.
Hold it dear, the promises ofGod.
Now, verse 14, interesting here.
Another thing they do thathelped in this waiting is they
declared it plainly.
They declared it plainly thatthey sought the homeland.
(13:56):
Now, it's helpful sometimes todeclare the promises of God to
others.
And I don't know what it is.
I feel embarrassed.
I do sometimes.
When I think of the promises ofGod, I'll come again that where
I am, there you may be also.
Heaven, the promise of heaven.
I have a hard time saying, youknow what?
God says, oh, this isn't allthat there is.
(14:19):
One day we're gonna go toheaven, right?
The promises of God, I'll neverleave you or forsake you.
Somebody's going through it.
Sometimes I'm a littleembarrassed to say it.
Hey, you know, God can be withyou.
You know, um, but sometimes ithelps to declare uh the promises
of God.
(14:39):
Um now notice verse 16.
They also desired uh heaven,right?
Uh they they desired, is that16?
Yeah, they desire a better, thatis a heavenly country.
They desired it.
(15:00):
And and that was really theirhope and the thing that they
longed for, the thing that theykept in sight, this desire for
heaven.
That helps us in the waiting,having these perspectives.
Now, these are some ways that wecan uh kind of boost ourselves
to wait through that time.
But I want to point out onething before we move on.
(15:23):
Abraham and Sarah look prettygood here, right?
They know who God is, they'reconvinced in their mind that his
promises are real, they know hisfaithfulness and they're looking
for it and declaring heaven is areal place.
I can't wait to go there.
But a little side note here,let's turn to Genesis 16.
Turning is good.
(15:43):
Genesis 16.
It's important to know thatAbraham and Sarah weren't
perfect.
There's a lot of places youcould go in the book of Genesis
to find this out, but chapter 16is kind of a big one here.
Chapter 16, verse 1.
(16:05):
Now Sarah, Abram's wife, hadborne him no children, and she
had an Egyptian maidservantwhose name was Hagar.
So Sarai said to Abram, See nowthe Lord has restrained me from
bearing children.
Please go into my maid.
(16:25):
Perhaps she shall obtainchildren, you shall obtain
children by her.
And Abram heeded the voice ofSarah.
And Sarah, Abram's wife, tookHagar her maid, the Egyptian,
and gave her to her husbandAbram to be his wife.
And after Abram had dwelt tenyears in the land of Canaan.
Uh so he went into Hagar and sheconceived.
(16:47):
So now here's the story.
Abraham, Sarah, mighty in faith.
They looked to the promise, theysaw him as faithful.
And then you know what?
Ten years, eight to ten years goby, uh, even longer, really.
And and Sarah goes, look, God'snot giving me kids.
If we're gonna have kids, you'regonna have to do this another
(17:09):
way.
And and the faith scale, it justgoes down.
Are they trusting God?
They're not trusting God.
Are they doubting?
They are doubting a lot.
But I love here in the book ofHebrews that as we see Abraham
and Sarah, God sees them asfaithful.
And I take a lot of comfort inthe failings of Abraham, right?
(17:33):
Very sad to say that.
I take a lot of comfort in thefact that he failed, that Bible
characters failed because Ifailed.
I certainly don't do it allright.
My faith is up and down and hereand there.
Um, it's very comforting to methat in faith, specifically in
faith in Jesus, God sees us asdoing the right thing, as
(17:57):
following through, and we trustJesus for that.
So all these things we puttogether, but then we got to
wonder, what are we waiting for?
That's the question to look at.
What are you waiting for?
Maybe it's some promises thatGod has made you in your life,
personal promises He's He's uhmade to you.
(18:20):
I know when I read the story andthe account of Abraham, I a lot
of times took it to the bank andsaid, God, you gave Abraham
children, you can give mechildren too.
And I took it as this is theword of the Lord.
Now, take it with a loose gripin times like that.
If God's told you, then justbelieve it and that settles it
(18:43):
and trust him.
But either way, here's the thingwith waiting and trusting.
You have to leave it in God'shands.
Because on the outside ofthings, it really didn't look
like it was gonna happen.
There was a lot ofdisappointment in their lives,
and they could have easily said,you know what, God didn't do it,
and they did.
God didn't do what he said he'sgonna do.
(19:04):
But know this, his ways aren'tour ways.
The way that he makes thesethings happen, it's not the way
we would have done it.
The bottom line is you've got totrust God.
And be honest, sometimes we canhear wrong, but trust God.
But there's some other thingsthat are even more stable.
God's prophetic promises, thingsthat he says he will do.
(19:27):
The Bible still has plenty ofthings that God, who's never let
us down before, has said aregonna happen in this world.
Read the book of Daniel, readthe book of Revelation, read the
book of Ezekiel, it's there.
Interesting things.
Now we bank on those things, butin general, bank on this.
(19:48):
The promises that God made, thatthis is not everything.
I know you can look at that thisweek.
Listen to this, just pictureyourself there.
It's the upper room before Jesusgoes to the cross.
His disciples are discouraged,it just feels weird, maybe.
And John 14, verse 1.
(20:09):
Listen to this and take it toheart.
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe alsoin me.
In my father's house are manymansions.
If it were not so, I would havetold you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a placefor you, I will come again and
(20:32):
receive you to myself.
That where I am, there you maybe also.
Man, every time I read thosewords, I'm going to prepare a
place for you.
If I go to prepare a place, I'llgo, I'll come and get you to
myself.
Every time I read that, I'm soencouraged because I really
believe God is gonna do what hesays he's gonna do.
(20:55):
I look at this world and I go,it's just going downhill, it's
getting worse and worse, this ishorrible.
But then I go, but God promisedhe's not gonna leave us here.
God promised there's more tolife after these things.
And we take that and we trustit.
We trust it and say, God, you'regonna do what you said.
(21:17):
You're gonna, I don't see it, Idon't feel it, but I believe it,
and I'm gonna live my life inlight of that.
Well, last thing, let's go backto Hebrews chapter 11.
Why wait in faith?
There's some pretty pointedthings.
Hebrews 11.
(21:38):
Verse 16 is where we'll see it,but why wait in faith?
Number one, it pleases God.
You can look back at verse 6there in chapter 11, that faith
pleases God.
It pleases God that we trusthim.
That's what he wants.
But notice verse 16.
(22:01):
Therefore, therefore, becausethey trusted him and they
trusted in in a better place,therefore, God is not ashamed to
be called their God, for he hasprepared a city for them.
Because they waited in faith andtrusted God, therefore, God is
not ashamed to be their God.
(22:22):
That seems like a little thing.
But, you know, I look at it andI go, you know, there's plenty
of stuff in my life I feel likeGod would be ashamed, right?
Oh, God, you're probably prettyashamed of me, you know, and the
things that I did, the things Isaid, and I'm still living
things down from my childhood,you know.
Um, and and you know, Iunderstand what it feels like
(22:44):
for people to be ashamed, right?
You know, uh, but but I feellike I deserve it and I do.
But when we trust God, God's notashamed of us.
That's because of what Jesusdid.
When we trust him with that,that's we we put on Christ and
God sees his perfect son.
(23:04):
But but it's so nice to knowthat God's not ashamed of us
when we trust him.
And notice there, he's prepareda city for them.
Man, isn't that sweet?
It's not this generic heaventhing, it's a city, it's a place
for us.
(23:24):
Not only that he would not beashamed of us, but he wants to
be with us forever.
Uh, a wonderful truth to takeinto our life as this week could
be challenging, it could beglorious and wonderful, but no
matter what comes, good or bad,waiting or experiencing what
we've been promised, uh, we haveto trust God.
(23:48):
And and and by God's grace,that's what we'll do.
So, God, we see this example ofAbraham and Sarah trusting you
uh with their heart.
And uh, God, I'm encouraged thatI know they weren't perfect, but
God you saw them as perfect.
God, and and as we looked attheir life, it's little by
(24:10):
little you built this thing offaith and trust.
That they knew who you were andwhat you were like.
They put all of their weight onyou, and you didn't let them
down.
God, even though they didn't seeit, you did exceedingly
abundantly above all they couldask of.
God, thank you that you're thesame God in our life.
(24:33):
I pray that we trust you thisweek with the little things and
the big things.
God, watch over us in Jesus'name.
We pray.
Amen.
All right, Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11.
Verse 11 is what we'll be today.
Hebrews 11.
11.
And if you would like to uhlater on flip to Genesis, you
(00:32):
can sort of have an idea whereGenesis 15 is, but it's not that
hard to find.
You'll be good.
Hebrews 11.
11.
All right.
Well, we're talking about faithhere in Hebrews chapter 11.
It's a little visit to the hallof faith as it's known in many
(00:53):
circles.
And uh we've seen variousexamples of faith.
We've seen Abel and Enoch andNoah.
Now we're camped out on the lifeof Abraham.
Uh few weeks here with Abraham.
Pretty important person in thishall of faith.
Uh, Romans chapter 4 lets usknow that he's the father of
(01:15):
those who would believe, uh,father of the faithful.
Um, and a large chunk of Genesisuh chapters 11 through 25 really
uh have to do with Abraham andhis life and his development in
faith.
And it's really uh quite theaccount as he's taken, we saw
last time, uh, a guy in a placecalled Ur of the Chaldees, an
(01:39):
idol worshiper.
Uh he's taken from this pointwhere no record of any
understanding of who God is, andGod leads him out, and God
begins to work in his life.
And it's a very sweet account inGenesis there of this one,
Abraham, just a normal guylearning to walk by faith.
Now, um, faith today we'll seeis in the waiting.
(02:04):
The faith that we'll seedemonstrated today is in the
waiting, and it's the faith towait.
Um, nobody in the Bible pictureswaiting better than Abraham and
Sarah, waiting decades for justa hint at God's promises.
(02:25):
And uh this is relevant, right?
Because none of us like waiting.
It involves patience.
Uh, we want our stuff now,right?
From waiting to the end of theschool day for some of us to
waiting uh for a wedding day forothers.
Uh what we're waiting for cannever come fast enough.
I mean, goodness, uh, most of uscan't even wait through the
(02:46):
microwave for our frozen burritoto cook, right?
You know, it's three, two, youknow, it's good enough.
And there's just that perpetualone second on the microwave
there from the time that wecouldn't wait.
Um, but waiting is one of God'sfavorite answers to wait.
It requires faith.
(03:08):
And during the waiting, Godbuilds our faith.
Um, in the waiting, we are oftenforced to trust God.
So let's jump in here, Hebrewschapter 11.
Let's read verse 11 through 16,what we'll look at today.
Hebrews 11, 11.
(03:30):
By faith, Sarah herself alsoreceived strength to conceive
seed, and she bore a child whenshe was past the age, because
she judged him faithful, who hadpromised.
Therefore, from one man and himas good as dead.
That's an encouraging way tolook at Abraham there in his uh,
(03:52):
well, at this point, in his 90s,as good as dead, were born as
many as the stars and the sky inmultitude, innumerable as the
sand which is by the seashore.
And these all died in faith, nothaving received the promises,
but having seen them afar off,were assured of them, embraced
them, and confess that they werestrangers and pilgrims on the
(04:16):
earth.
For those who say such thingsdeclare plainly that they seek a
homeland, and truly, if they hadcalled to mind that country from
which they had come out, theywould have had opportunity to
return.
But now they desire a better,that is a heavenly country.
Therefore, God is not ashamed tobe called their God, for he has
prepared a city for them.
(04:38):
So here we see the waiting therein verses 11 and 12.
The waiting for the promisedson.
You perhaps know this story.
Isaac was the promised son giventhere to Abraham in Genesis 15.
God promised to make Abraham apeople uh living in the promised
(05:01):
land.
Um, he's not seeing it for agood eight to ten years.
And there in Genesis 15, Abrahampresumes and has a conversation
with God where he says, youknow, maybe, maybe it's um my
servant Eliezer.
Maybe he'll be the one to startthis nation with.
And God responds to Abraham inGenesis 15, verse 4.
(05:25):
If you're there, you can look atit.
Uh, Genesis 15, 4, and behold,the word of the Lord came to
Abraham, saying, This one shallnot be your heir, but one who
will come from your own bodyshall be your heir.
Then he brought him outside andsaid, Look now toward heaven,
count the stars if you were ableto number them.
(05:46):
And he said to him, So shallyour descendants be.
Verse 6.
And he believed in the Lord, andGod accounted it to him for
righteousness.
So here we see Abraham gettingthis very distinct promise.
You are gonna have actualliteral descendants from your
body.
(06:07):
Uh, the Hebrew nation, the Jewswould come from Abraham's own
body, Isaac, right?
And you know the story there.
They're given this promise inAbraham and Sarah, they wait and
they trusted God, and out poppedIsaac.
Not quite.
But we see the struggle thatthey had.
(06:29):
Uh, this is a very common themein the Bible: the waiting for a
child, Abraham and Sarah.
Rebecca, Abraham'sdaughter-in-law, struggled with
barrenness.
And Isaac prayed for her, andthey got two, Jacob and Esau.
Um, and and and even Jacob'swife, Rachel, struggled and
(06:54):
spoke to Jacob at one point.
Give me a child or I will die.
And and this barrenness, sheeventually had Joseph, uh, and
later Benjamin.
Later in the time of the judges,we see this thing of barrenness.
Uh, a woman named Hannah waitsfor a child, desires a child.
(07:16):
She's praying and she's cryingout to God, God, just please
give me a child.
And and she's just hit to thecore.
Now, these are things that hitus deep inside.
Wanting to have children, notbeing able to have children.
Uh, that was a story in our lifeuh for so many years, unable.
(07:41):
And I get it, right?
I remember uh the tears.
I remember just crying out, God,why would you give me desire for
this thing and not uh give themto me?
And it just rips our guts out,right?
To put it plainly, right?
These things, these desires forsomething that we don't have,
and we all have very uniquethings that we desire in our
(08:03):
life.
And so many times the thing thatGod tells us is wait.
Um, and so we see here thepromise is made, a nation, but
yet they had to wait.
There's also the waiting inverse 13 and 14 for a homeland.
Um, verse 14 specifically, theysought a homeland.
(08:28):
Uh, now this is something thatthat generation, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, they never really sawwith their eyes.
We read that a little laterthere.
Um, and yet God says, this isthe promise.
Your people are gonna have ahomeland.
Wait for it.
Um, there's so much that we waitfor in life, and so many times
(08:48):
God just says, You're gonna haveto trust me and wait.
But the question is, how do wewait?
How can we wait?
Well, I think there's some goodlessons here to look at.
So let's look at him in verse11, number one.
They discovered personally thefaithful God.
Look at verse 11.
(09:10):
It says there they judged himfaithful who had promised.
Uh, they discovered personallywho God was.
Uh, they discovered that he wasfaithful, they understood that
he was faithful.
Now, check it out.
Being faithful is not justsomething God does.
God just, that's not somethinghe does, it's something he is.
(09:33):
As we look at the character andthe attributes of God, God is
faithful.
It's said many times in theBible, Deuteronomy 7 9.
He is God the faithful one.
Hosea 11, 12.
Uh, he is the holy one who isfaithful.
1 Corinthians 1 9, Paul says,God is faithful.
(09:56):
So we see it over and overagain.
It's not just what he does, it'swho he is.
God is faithful.
And it is one of those thingsthat God can't be.
It's unfaithful.
Uh we realize that God can doanything, nothing is impossible
with God.
But there's a few things that heactually can't do.
He can't learn, right?
(10:18):
God will never learn because heknows everything, he's
omniscient, right?
Um, but he also can't lie.
It's impossible for God to liebecause he will not fail.
He always does exactly what hesays he will do.
Now, Abraham and Sarah, theylearn that through their life.
(10:39):
They learn that God is faithfuland they learn to trust him.
Um also, though, look at verse13.
They learned to discover himpersonally, but they were also
deeply convinced.
Assured is the word in verse 13of the promises.
The word assured there could beconvinced.
(11:01):
That's a good word to use forassured, convinced.
Um, sometimes we think about theChristian life as a life by
blind faith.
Right?
I just trust God, I don't seeit, but I trust Him.
Yeah, it's it's part of life.
But there's a lot of things youcan be convinced of.
There's a lot of reasons tobelieve.
(11:21):
There's a lot of reasons tobelieve that what we see around
us didn't just happen, bang, ithappened.
That God created the heavens andthe earth.
There's a lot of good proof thatyou can be convinced of.
Um, you can be convinced that heis there, that he knows.
Um, all these things we can beconvinced in our life.
(11:45):
And Abraham and Sarah, they wereconvinced of the promise.
Now, I'm gonna disagree thatthey were totally, they weren't
totally convinced, right?
We see times where their faithis high and their faith is low,
and sometimes they doubt, andsometimes they believe, but
we're just gonna say here, theywere assured, they were
(12:06):
convinced that God, beingfaithful, will do the things he
says.
The third one here, though, lookat verse 13 also.
They drew into the promises.
Look at the word embraced,right?
They embraced under the rightcircumstances.
I'm a big hugger, I can do that,maybe making some uncomfortable
(12:27):
sometimes.
Uh, but you experience that inyour life, don't you?
Like, you know, when your kidsget through a situation uh, you
know, where there's danger andthey run up to you and they just
give you this big, big bear hug,and they're scared.
Um, when I went away for thefirst time in our married life
uh on, I think it was a missionstrip, I surprised Leela at the
(12:49):
door of the place where she wasstaying.
I knocked and she wasn'texpecting me.
I just remember that was likethe biggest hug.
She was crying, she's laughing,she you know, and it's just a
big hug embrace, took it in,brought close.
Um, here they embrace thepromises of God.
Pretty sweet, sweet picture toembrace the promises of God.
(13:13):
Um, the promised son, theypulled that promise in as their
own.
Now we're gonna say they can seethey struggled, but that's a
great way to look at thepromises of God, to bring it in
where Jesus says, if I go, we'llread, I'll come again.
To bring it close in your life.
(13:34):
I believe that and I embrace it,I love it.
Hold it dear, the promises ofGod.
Now, verse 14, interesting here.
Another thing they do thathelped in this waiting is they
declared it plainly.
They declared it plainly thatthey sought the homeland.
(13:56):
Now, it's helpful sometimes todeclare the promises of God to
others.
And I don't know what it is.
I feel embarrassed.
I do sometimes.
When I think of the promises ofGod, I'll come again that where
I am, there you may be also.
Heaven, the promise of heaven.
I have a hard time saying, youknow what?
God says, oh, this isn't allthat there is.
(14:19):
One day we're gonna go toheaven, right?
The promises of God, I'll neverleave you or forsake you.
Somebody's going through it.
Sometimes I'm a littleembarrassed to say it.
Hey, you know, God can be withyou.
You know, um, but sometimes ithelps to declare uh the promises
of God.
(14:39):
Um now notice verse 16.
They also desired uh heaven,right?
Uh they they desired, is that16?
Yeah, they desire a better, thatis a heavenly country.
They desired it.
(15:00):
And and that was really theirhope and the thing that they
longed for, the thing that theykept in sight, this desire for
heaven.
That helps us in the waiting,having these perspectives.
Now, these are some ways that wecan uh kind of boost ourselves
to wait through that time.
But I want to point out onething before we move on.
(15:23):
Abraham and Sarah look prettygood here, right?
They know who God is, they'reconvinced in their mind that his
promises are real, they know hisfaithfulness and they're looking
for it and declaring heaven is areal place.
I can't wait to go there.
But a little side note here,let's turn to Genesis 16.
Turning is good.
(15:43):
Genesis 16.
It's important to know thatAbraham and Sarah weren't
perfect.
There's a lot of places youcould go in the book of Genesis
to find this out, but chapter 16is kind of a big one here.
Chapter 16, verse 1.
(16:05):
Now Sarah, Abram's wife, hadborne him no children, and she
had an Egyptian maidservantwhose name was Hagar.
So Sarai said to Abram, See nowthe Lord has restrained me from
bearing children.
Please go into my maid.
(16:25):
Perhaps she shall obtainchildren, you shall obtain
children by her.
And Abram heeded the voice ofSarah.
And Sarah, Abram's wife, tookHagar her maid, the Egyptian,
and gave her to her husbandAbram to be his wife.
And after Abram had dwelt tenyears in the land of Canaan.
Uh so he went into Hagar and sheconceived.
(16:47):
So now here's the story.
Abraham, Sarah, mighty in faith.
They looked to the promise, theysaw him as faithful.
And then you know what?
Ten years, eight to ten years goby, uh, even longer, really.
And and Sarah goes, look, God'snot giving me kids.
If we're gonna have kids, you'regonna have to do this another
(17:09):
way.
And and the faith scale, it justgoes down.
Are they trusting God?
They're not trusting God.
Are they doubting?
They are doubting a lot.
But I love here in the book ofHebrews that as we see Abraham
and Sarah, God sees them asfaithful.
And I take a lot of comfort inthe failings of Abraham, right?
(17:33):
Very sad to say that.
I take a lot of comfort in thefact that he failed, that Bible
characters failed because Ifailed.
I certainly don't do it allright.
My faith is up and down and hereand there.
Um, it's very comforting to methat in faith, specifically in
faith in Jesus, God sees us asdoing the right thing, as
(17:57):
following through, and we trustJesus for that.
So all these things we puttogether, but then we got to
wonder, what are we waiting for?
That's the question to look at.
What are you waiting for?
Maybe it's some promises thatGod has made you in your life,
personal promises He's He's uhmade to you.
(18:20):
I know when I read the story andthe account of Abraham, I a lot
of times took it to the bank andsaid, God, you gave Abraham
children, you can give mechildren too.
And I took it as this is theword of the Lord.
Now, take it with a loose gripin times like that.
If God's told you, then justbelieve it and that settles it
(18:43):
and trust him.
But either way, here's the thingwith waiting and trusting.
You have to leave it in God'shands.
Because on the outside ofthings, it really didn't look
like it was gonna happen.
There was a lot ofdisappointment in their lives,
and they could have easily said,you know what, God didn't do it,
and they did.
God didn't do what he said he'sgonna do.
(19:04):
But know this, his ways aren'tour ways.
The way that he makes thesethings happen, it's not the way
we would have done it.
The bottom line is you've got totrust God.
And be honest, sometimes we canhear wrong, but trust God.
But there's some other thingsthat are even more stable.
God's prophetic promises, thingsthat he says he will do.
(19:27):
The Bible still has plenty ofthings that God, who's never let
us down before, has said aregonna happen in this world.
Read the book of Daniel, readthe book of Revelation, read the
book of Ezekiel, it's there.
Interesting things.
Now we bank on those things, butin general, bank on this.
(19:48):
The promises that God made, thatthis is not everything.
I know you can look at that thisweek.
Listen to this, just pictureyourself there.
It's the upper room before Jesusgoes to the cross.
His disciples are discouraged,it just feels weird, maybe.
And John 14, verse 1.
(20:09):
Listen to this and take it toheart.
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe alsoin me.
In my father's house are manymansions.
If it were not so, I would havetold you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a placefor you, I will come again and
(20:32):
receive you to myself.
That where I am, there you maybe also.
Man, every time I read thosewords, I'm going to prepare a
place for you.
If I go to prepare a place, I'llgo, I'll come and get you to
myself.
Every time I read that, I'm soencouraged because I really
believe God is gonna do what hesays he's gonna do.
(20:55):
I look at this world and I go,it's just going downhill, it's
getting worse and worse, this ishorrible.
But then I go, but God promisedhe's not gonna leave us here.
God promised there's more tolife after these things.
And we take that and we trustit.
We trust it and say, God, you'regonna do what you said.
(21:17):
You're gonna, I don't see it, Idon't feel it, but I believe it,
and I'm gonna live my life inlight of that.
Well, last thing, let's go backto Hebrews chapter 11.
Why wait in faith?
There's some pretty pointedthings.
Hebrews 11.
(21:38):
Verse 16 is where we'll see it,but why wait in faith?
Number one, it pleases God.
You can look back at verse 6there in chapter 11, that faith
pleases God.
It pleases God that we trusthim.
That's what he wants.
But notice verse 16.
(22:01):
Therefore, therefore, becausethey trusted him and they
trusted in in a better place,therefore, God is not ashamed to
be called their God, for he hasprepared a city for them.
Because they waited in faith andtrusted God, therefore, God is
not ashamed to be their God.
(22:22):
That seems like a little thing.
But, you know, I look at it andI go, you know, there's plenty
of stuff in my life I feel likeGod would be ashamed, right?
Oh, God, you're probably prettyashamed of me, you know, and the
things that I did, the things Isaid, and I'm still living
things down from my childhood,you know.
Um, and and you know, Iunderstand what it feels like
(22:44):
for people to be ashamed, right?
You know, uh, but but I feellike I deserve it and I do.
But when we trust God, God's notashamed of us.
That's because of what Jesusdid.
When we trust him with that,that's we we put on Christ and
God sees his perfect son.
(23:04):
But but it's so nice to knowthat God's not ashamed of us
when we trust him.
And notice there, he's prepareda city for them.
Man, isn't that sweet?
It's not this generic heaventhing, it's a city, it's a place
for us.
(23:24):
Not only that he would not beashamed of us, but he wants to
be with us forever.
Uh, a wonderful truth to takeinto our life as this week could
be challenging, it could beglorious and wonderful, but no
matter what comes, good or bad,waiting or experiencing what
we've been promised, uh, we haveto trust God.
(23:48):
And and and by God's grace,that's what we'll do.
So, God, we see this example ofAbraham and Sarah trusting you
uh with their heart.
And uh, God, I'm encouraged thatI know they weren't perfect, but
God you saw them as perfect.
God, and and as we looked attheir life, it's little by
(24:10):
little you built this thing offaith and trust.
That they knew who you were andwhat you were like.
They put all of their weight onyou, and you didn't let them
down.
God, even though they didn't seeit, you did exceedingly
abundantly above all they couldask of.
God, thank you that you're thesame God in our life.
(24:33):
I pray that we trust you thisweek with the little things and
the big things.
God, watch over us in Jesus'name.
We pray.
Amen.
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