Welcome to Day 2271 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Hebrews-19 Faithful Walks Worth Following – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 09/10/2023

Faithful Walks Worth Following - Hebrews 11:8-22

We continue our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. Last week, we studied the “Application of Faith” by Common People with Uncommon Faith. This week, we will extend these thoughts as we observe Faithful Walks Worth Following. Our focus today will be on the patriarchs of the nation of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Let’s read Hebrews 11:8- 22.

Faith in Action

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. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 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.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced 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 even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

I remember reading a story in the 1970s about two preachers in a backwoods mountain community who died in a self-inflicted test of faith. Based on Mark 16:18 , it seems they were determined to prove the strength of their faith to their congregation by handling snakes and drinking poison. If I recall correctly, they had survived bites from both copperheads and rattlesnakes in the past. This time, they increased the stakes by drinking strychnine—a common ingredient in rat poison! Needless to say, those men failed that test of faith. A few hours after drinking the poison, both of them were dead.

Besides basing their beliefs and practices on a flawed interpretation of a biblical text that may not even be original to the Gospel of Mark, these men crossed the line between faith and presumption. On the surface, they may have appeared daring, courageous, and impressive. But God is not pleased with voluntary snake handling and self-inflicted poisoning. He never commanded these actions, nor did He ever promise to miraculously heal those who put Him to the test like this (see Matt. 4:5–7).

Clearly, sensational and superstitious displays don’t please God. But what does it take to please Him? Last week, we studied Hebrews 11:6, which answers that all-important question: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Pleasing God takes faith—not blind, wishful thinking that presumes He’ll do what we want, when we want, and how we want. Faith is a humble and obedient response to God’s word—whether a statement of historical fact, a promise of provision and protection, a prophecy of the future, or a command to be obeyed. Faith is simple trust, which is always manifested in faithfulness.

Last week in Hebrews 11:1–7, the author has already begun filling in the white backdrop of a montage of faithfulness, the “Procession of Faith.” He has already painted the background scenes: the faith of Abel, Enoch, and Noah (11:3–7). In the next phase of this glorious production, the author moves to the center of the canvas and fills in the story of Abraham and Sarah as well as the stories of their descendants, the patriarchs Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (11:8–22). Each of these, in their own way, exhibited the kind of faith that pleases God by walking faithfully along a path worth following.

11:8–12

Unlike the two preachers who foolishly and fatally handled snakes and drank strychnine, the faith of Abraham and Sarah was neither sensational nor superstitious. However, from the world’s perspective, it was undoubtedly considered risky and ridiculous. However, note that Abraham’s faith walk began “when called to go” (11:8). His faith wasn’t founded on a subjective feeling about God’s will, a billowy cloud formation pointing like an arrow, or a vague message from a fortune-teller staring into a crystal ball. The Bible says, “So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed” (Gen. 12:4), and “Then the Lord appeared to Abram” (Gen. 12:7). This is where true faith rests—on the clear revelation of God (Rom. 10:17 ). So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

God’s calling to Abram was audible, objective, and specific. He responded with faithful obedience. In Hebrews 11:8, the depths of his faith are revealed he: “obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Can you imagine that? He packed up his things and led his wife, Sarah, from the comfort and security of his homeland to head to God-knows-where! This faith walk is even more remarkable when we remember that Abraham and Sarah weren’t a newlywed couple with an adventurous spirit and a world of possibilities ahead of them. He was seventy-five years old and had accumulated half a century’s worth of personal possessions (Gen. 12:5). I can’t begin to imagine how he explained all this to his family, friends, and neighbors!

Paula and I spent 10 years in North Carolina for work, although we maintained our home here.  Traveling back and forth every month for a few days was certainly not easy, especially with Paula’s mom with us, and visiting my Dad on most weekends that we were here. Not so with Abraham. Hebrews 11:9 says it took faith to live “a stranger in a foreign country” in the Promised Land. He lived in tents like an unwanted foreigner so he could move from place to place. In this always-on-the-move environment, with insecurities in the present and uncertainties about the future, Abraham and Sarah raised their child, Isaac, as Isaac did with his family (11:9). In the midst of this, Abraham walked by faith, not by sight. He depended on God and yearned for a permanent, heavenly city designed and built by God (11:10 ). His focus wasn’t on the hardships of his journey through life, but on the reward at the eternal destination. So it should be with our journey through life. We dwell in tents, which someday will be changed to immortal bodies, our permanent dwellings. We are here to build God’s kingdom, our forever home.

But what about Sarah? I could imagine his poor wife being dragged around on his wild-eyed faith walk—irritated by her husband’s spontaneity, frustrated by his stubbornness, fed up by his dream-chasing. Not so! The apostle Peter commended Sarah as an example to all women of faith because of her submissive spirit and faithful support of God’s call on her husband’s life (1 Pet. 3:6). The author of Hebrews also points to her faith walk as worthy to be followed. “By faith,” Sarah considered God faithful—the God “who had promised” that one day they would have a child of their own (Heb. 11:11 ). Remember, in her old age, Sarah still hadn’t conceived and borne a son, even though that was part of the package of promises God had given to Abraham when they believed and left their homeland in obedience to God’s word (Gen. 12:1–3, 7; 13:16 ).

And it was not easygoing. For twenty-five years after God’s initial call, Abraham and Sarah had no empirical evidence that she would—or even could—have a child of her own. In fact, toward the end of their decades of waiting, when God announced that Sarah would be pregnant within a year, she laughed at the idea that she would be a mom (Gen. 18:9–15). Sure enough, when Abraham turned one hundred, and Sarah was ninety (Heb. 11:11 ; Gen. 21:1–2). And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children