Hebrews chapter 11. That song was a blessing. Verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether
he went. Without obedience is not saving
faith. Now I want to repeat that. Faith without obedience is not
saving faith. God commanded Abraham to go out
into a place. that he would afterwards receive
for an inheritance. He was called to leave his mom
and dad, his relatives, life as he knew it, his security. He was called out to leave all
of that and go into a place that God would show him. And the scripture
says he obeyed. When God spake to Abraham, Abraham,
take now thy son, thy only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and
offer him up as a burnt offering to me in a mountain that I shall
show thee." Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his
ass and went toward that mountain. Abraham obeyed. I've entitled this message, The
Obedience of faith. Now let's go back to where God
first called Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham was an idolater in his
father's home. He didn't know God and God made
himself known to him. Look in Genesis chapter 12, beginning
in verse one. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram. Get thee out of thy country. And from thy kindred and from
thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I
will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee. and make
thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless
them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram
departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him,
and Abram was seventy and five years old. when he departed out
of Haran. Now, that's pretty old. That's
pretty old. Yet God said, leave. And Abraham left. And Abram took
Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their
substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they'd gotten
in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,
and into the land of Canaan they came. Now this is the call of
God. God didn't call everybody, did
he? He didn't call other of Abraham's relatives. He called Abraham. And Abraham obeyed. Now understand
this about God's call. If God calls you, you'll obey. And if you don't obey, it's because
he never called you. He doesn't call everybody. I
think of that passage of scripture in first Corinthians chapter
one, verse 26. You see your calling brethren.
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. God has simply passed them by. He never called them. We read
in Romans chapter 8 verse 28, and we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are thee
called according to His purpose. He doesn't call everybody. There
is a people whom He calls. Paul said, we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews, a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are the call. There's a definite article there
to them, which are the called Christ, the power of God, Christ,
the wisdom of God, the scripture says, whom he did predestinate.
Then he also called. Now, when I hear scriptures like
that, you know what my response is? Lord, call me. I'm not going to argue over why
didn't he call everybody. I don't know. Whatever he does
is right. But here is my response. Lord, call Call me by your invincible,
irresistible grace. Call me to yourself. Cause me
to approach unto thee. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Oh Lord, choose me. Lord, call me. Bring me into
your presence. Now this is God's effectual call
and nobody ever disobeys this call. If you disobey, it's because
he didn't call you. Everybody he calls comes to him. Now this call has two parts. I read this passage of scripture
when he called Abraham out. First, Abraham had to leave some
place. in order to get someplace else.
That's simple enough, isn't it? For you to get someplace, you're
gonna have to leave someplace. And if you don't leave that place
that you're called to go out of, you'll never get to the place
of which he called. Now, in order to get into the
land of God's promised blessing, he had to leave his homeland. Now when God calls a man to himself,
that man is called upon to leave his homeland. I'm called to leave,
to forsake my association with my father's house. My father,
Adam, I'm called to forsake my association with my father's
house, the ways of this world, the values of this world, the
religion of this world. I'm called upon to cut off. I'll
tell you this and I know this. You know, I'm called upon and
this is when Christ calls a man, he's called upon to deny himself,
deny his self, his association with Adam, and to take up his
cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm called upon
to forsake man's religion, human religion, my own, the natural
ways I think, forsake all that. And if I don't forsake that,
I never really come to Christ. You see, in order to come to
Christ, you're going to have to leave a place. You leave association
with your Father's house. And the person who does not come
out and be separate never came to Christ in the first place,
to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men. Men reject Him. They reject His
gospel. They don't want to have anything
to do with it. But you don't. to whom coming as into a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, he was called to
go to a land or a place where God would show him, a place of
blessing. Now, where is the place of God's
blessing? in Christ. That's a place. This is where
I want to get to. This is where I want to be. This
is where Paul said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. This is where I want to be. I
want to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only place
I want to be. I don't want to be anywhere else. This is the
only place of God's blessing. There's no place else where God
blesses, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the
typical significance of him leaving his father's homeland and going
into this place, this place of God's blessing, is the Lord Jesus
Christ. All God's blessing, all God's
favor is in Him. Now look what Genesis 12 says,
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred and father's house, unto a land that I will
show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation. Now this great nation first of all the Lord himself
came through Abraham. He is that great nation and that
great nation is made up of everybody in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
part of that great nation right now Of Him, the Scripture says,
are you in Christ Jesus? That's where I want to be. In
the Lord Jesus Christ. Talked about this some in Bible
study this morning. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God?
Here's how great this nation is. I mean, everybody in this
nation is great. Great by grace. Great because
of where they are. Great because of what God has
done for them. But they're great. He's made unto us, everybody
in Him who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Now, that's great. That's what
everybody in this great nation possesses. I'm so wise that the
Holy God can have fellowship with me because Christ is my
wisdom before God. I'm so righteous that God can
embrace me. Just as righteous as Christ?
No, His righteousness is my righteousness. I'm so holy that however holy
he is, I am because he's made to me holiness. And he's made
to me complete redemption. Now, this is how great this nation
is. Don't you want to be in this nation? I mean, I love being
a citizen of the United States of America. This is the greatest
nation in the world to me. I mean, I think it is. I mean,
I know if you go to some other country, they may think theirs
is, and I understand that. But right here, I think I'm in
this, I'm in the best nation. But let me tell you this, this
nation is nothing compared to the holy nation that we're speaking
of. He said, I will make of thee
a great nation. And then he says, I will bless
thee. Oh, what power He has to bless. I want Him to bless me, don't
you? I want His favor extended toward me. He said, I will bless
thee. He didn't say, I will if. He
said, I will. Oh, the blessing that is in Christ
Jesus. I don't care if we're talking
about spiritual blessings. That's glorious, the blessings
we have in Him. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus or any other
kind of blessing. Whatever God's blessings are,
I want them. He said, I will bless thee. Don't you want God's
blessing, His favor upon you? Lord, bless me. Bless me. I like that. Bless me, oh my
Savior, bless me while I sit low at thy feet. Oh, look down
in love upon me. Let me feel thy grace so sweet. He said, I will bless thee. And then he said in verse 2,
I will make thy name great." And you know, here we're talking
about Abraham 3,500 years later. He did make Abraham's name great.
Abraham is the father of the faithful. But I don't really
think that's what he's talking about when he's talking about,
I'll make thy name great. He's talking about the name that
every believer possesses. The same name that the Lord Jesus
possesses. Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. That's my name. That is my name. That's the name of every believer.
Jehovah Tzadkinu, the Lord, our righteousness. What a great name.
You know, my name, Todd Norbert, there ain't nothing to that.
But this name, there's something to it. This is the Lord's name. He said, I'll make thy name great. And then he says, I'll bless
them that bless thee. The Lord said, inasmuch as you
did it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to
me. You know how you treat me is how you treat the Lord Jesus
Christ. Watch out how you treat me. And the same way toward you,
the same way toward you. How I treat you is how I treat
Christ himself. Inasmuch as you did it to the
least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. And he
also said, I'll curse them that curse thee. Inasmuch as you did
it not to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to
me. And then he says in verse three,
and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Turn,
hold your finger there and turn to Galatians chapter three. Paul quotes this in Galatians
chapter three. Verse 8, and the Scripture. I love the way the Scripture
is spoken of as a living person who foresees. You know, the Scripture
is the Word of God. The Scripture is the living Word
of God. The Scripture foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the Gospel unto Abraham saying, and here's the Gospel, in thee
shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. Now, God's Word calls this the
Gospel. In thee shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed because in the Lord Jesus Christ He's
coming through your loins. This is the gospel. You shall
be blessed in Him. Not you might be, or you could
be, or you will be if, but you shall be blessed. In thee shall
all nations of the earth be blessed. That's the gospel. So here is
what we call God's call. A call to leave your association
with Adam, your homeland, the values, the religion, the maxims
of this world. To leave it. And you know, I'm not impressed with this world. I'm not impressed with this world's
values. I'm not impressed with this world's religion. I'm glad
to get out. I'm glad, I want to be identified
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my identification, a Christian,
a follower of Christ. That's the only way I want to
be known. I don't want to be known as a
Democrat. I don't want to be known as a Republican. I don't
want to be known as any of these worldly things. I want to be
known as a follower, an out and out disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He went out. left his association
with his home and went to a place that the Lord would show him.
Now, what he did is called obedience. This is the obedience of faith.
Now, I want to give you three reasons why Abraham obeyed. Now,
you think about this. I'm sure everybody here has thought
about what if the Lord told you, start walking. And you just leave
everything you know, everything you feel comfortable with, everything
you feel secure with, and you just take off. I thought, boy,
that would have been difficult. He called him to do it. Now,
let me give you three reasons why Abraham did this. Here's
the first reason, because God gave him the grace to. We read in Romans 1-4 of grace
for obedience to the faith. You see, the only way that you
and I are going to truly obey God, and we won't have saving
faith if we don't obey God, The obedience of faith, but the only
way we'll truly have this obedience of faith is God giving us the
grace to obey. I know myself enough to know
I will not obey unless He causes me to and enables me by His grace. So really, this is optimistic.
You can't look at this and think, oh, this seems so difficult.
No, God will give you grace. This is the gift of His grace.
So that's the first reason Abraham obeyed God, because God enabled
him to because of His grace. Now here's the second reason.
He believed what God said. He believed he would be better
off doing what God said. He believed that he would have
these blessings in doing what God said. He believed it would
be better for him to obey than to stay. He staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he
was able also to perform. Now, you put yourself in Abraham's
place. God said, I'm going to make of thee a great nation.
I'm going to bless you. There's no ifs, ands, and buts
about it. This is what's going to happen. Abraham would have
been an idiot not to go, wouldn't he? He's much better off and
what God said to do. I mean, it was a no-brainer,
wasn't it? And here's the third reason he
obeyed. First, he obeyed because God
gave him grace to. Secondly, because he saw this is the better
thing to do. I'll be better off for it. I'm the one who benefits
from it. And here's the third reason he obeyed. He was afraid
not to. He was afraid not to. Whatsoever he saith to you, do
it. That is our rule of life. Whatsoever he saith to you. Do it. And notice in our text,
by faith, he went out not knowing whether he went back to Hebrews
11. Let me read that. Hebrews chapter
11. Verse eight. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive
for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out not knowing whether
he went. He simply packs up and moves,
trusting God's providence. He didn't know where he was going.
He couldn't see the place he was going to, but he trusted
God to get him there and to keep him there when he was there.
Abraham was an example of this. We walk by faith and not by sight. Now, I'm going to ask you a question. I don't know what... I'm looking
at my... There they are. I want to ask you a question.
Why is it that we say we trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save
us? We trust Him completely. Why is it we say that we believe
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose? Why is it we
say we believe that and why do we worry? That makes sense, doesn't it?
Why do we become so fearful over so many things? We become so
fearful over the economy, over our future, over the future of
our children. What shall we eat? What shall
we drink? With or withal shall we be clothed? Why do we worry? This kind of worry and fear is
so dishonoring to him. Abraham went out not knowing
what was going to happen to him, but he knew the Lord did. And
he knew the Lord's hand was upon him, and he went out. He obeyed
and he trusted God's providence. Is he not worthy of this kind
of trust? Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew chapter 6. You know, when the Lord talks
about ye of little faith, do you reckon He's talking to me
and you? Oh, ye of little faith. How many
times does He say, where is your faith? Matthew chapter 6, verse
19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where most and rust is corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, where is your treasure? Where is your treasure? Well, I can tell you this, my
treasure is not here on earth. My treasure sits at the right
hand of the Father. He is my treasure. Is that it? That's it. And our
Lord says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. The light of the body is the
eye. If therefore thine eye be single
or simple, that's talking about faith, thy whole body shall be
full of light, but if thine eye be evil, mixed, thy whole body
shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that's
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. No man can
serve two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon,
and that word mammon, What's it mean? Well, it means money.
Well, it means more than that. It means that which is trusted.
Now, what most people trust is money. If I have enough money,
I'm in good shape. If I can just have enough money
in the bank, everything's going to be okay. The love of money
is the root of all evil. trusting money. Think how quickly
the Lord, many of us have found out how quickly the Lord can
take away money. I mean, you can't serve God and mammon. It cannot be done. Therefore,
verse 28, five, I say unto you, take no thought for your life. Beloved, Right now, at any rate, I'm carefree. I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not anxious about anything right now. Now, when I walk out
the door, I don't know what's going to happen, but I mean right
now, hearing the Lord say, take no thought for your life, I'm
not. The Lord's in control. I'm in
His hands. Isn't that a blessed place to
be? There's really nothing to worry about. care free. Therefore I say, and you take
no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you should
drink, nor yet for your body, what you should put on is not
the life, the life more than meat and the body more than raiment.
Behold the fowls of the air. For they sow not, neither do
they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them." Are you not much better than they? Think of how your
heavenly Father takes care of you. He's not going to leave
you alone. He's promised you're complete
in Christ. Verse 27, "...which of you, by
taking thought, by worrying, by being anxious, by scheming
and manipulating. Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit into his stature, one moment to his life? You can't do it. I like that
passage of scripture in Luke, I think it's in Luke 13, where
the Lord said, if you be not able to do that which is least,
why worry about the rest? I mean, you don't have any control,
so why worry? Take no thought. Abraham went
out not knowing where he went, but he believed God would take
care of him. Do you believe that? Go on reading. Verse 28, And why take ye thought
for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spend. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
Now, everything you need materially, you'll have. Everything you need
spiritually, you'll have. I think that this is mainly a
reference to the clothing that the believers clothed with, the
very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, verse
30, If God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is
and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more
clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, take no thought saying,
what should we eat or what should we drink or whether with all
shall we be clothed? For after all these things did
the Gentiles seek. This is what the heathen seeks.
For your heavenly father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord knows exactly what you
need. And that's all I want. I want
what I need. And I don't want anything else.
Lord, give me what I need. I don't even know what to ask
for. But He knows what I need. And it's such a blessing. Lord,
give me what I need. We've got that promise. Your
Father knows what you need. Do you know everything that the
Lord has brought your way has been good? Everything. It's been exactly what you needed. The bad stuff, the sickness,
the pain, the conflict, the trouble, every bit of it has been exactly
what you needed given to you by a kind Heavenly Father who's
too wise to err and too kind to be cruel. That includes everything. Isn't that wonderful? What a
glorious thing it is to be one of His. to be a believer. Don't worry about anything else.
He says, all these things that the Gentiles seek, for your father
knoweth what you have need of all these things, but seek ye
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before God's holy throne. Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought. Don't
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things
itself. You've got enough to deal with today. Sufficient today
is the evil thereof. Now is the Lord not worthy of
such complete trust that we should never have any fearful or anxious
thoughts again? You know what's sad? Is we'll
have him. But we ought not. We ought not. And I'd be just like Abraham.
He went out knowing not whether he went. Abraham didn't know
where he was going, but he knew the Lord knew where he was going.
And Abraham said with David, my times are in thy hands. Isn't that a glorious place for
your times to be? In the hands of the Lord God. Now back to
Hebrews 11. By faith, verse 8, Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward
receive for an inheritance, obeyed. Now, let's talk for a moment
about this thing of he went to a place which he should afterward
receive for inheritance. Now, faith has to do with the
right now, but it also has to do with what's after. It has to do with tomorrow. It
has to do with everything that is associated between now and
death, and it has to do with standing before God in judgment. He, as it says, when He's called
to go out into a place which He should afterward receive for
an inheritance, He obeyed. Now, I've got an inheritance. What an inheritance I have. Joined to heirs with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything that Christ has coming
to Him, I've got coming to Me. You really believe that? You know, I know this, if we
believe it, it'll make us rejoice. And we won't worry about anything
that's going on. You just got a little bit of time to go and
then you're going to enter into the joy of your Lord, this glorious
inheritance. We don't have much more time.
And then we'll stand in our inheritance. Now, how do we know we'll get
it? Turn to Genesis 15. You know, regarding an inheritance,
Don't count on it till you have it. I wonder how many times people
have counted on an inheritance and something ended up going
wrong. Maybe the money got lost or somebody ripped the money.
I mean, just go on and on. Don't count on an inheritance
unless you actually possess it. Now, the believer already possesses
their inheritance. Look in Genesis 15. Verse 3, And Abram said, Behold,
to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house
is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him,
saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come
forth out of thine own bough shall be thine heir. And he brought
him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward the heaven, and tell
the stars, if thou be able to number him. And he said unto
them, So shall thy seed be. and he believed in the Lord and
he candidate him for righteousness and he said unto him I'm the
Lord that brought thee out of Ur to the Chaldees to give unto
thee this land to inherit it and he said Lord God whereby
shall I know that I shall inherit it and he said take me an heifer
of three years old and a she goat of three years old and a
ram of three years old and a turtle dove and a young pigeon And he
took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and
laid each piece one against another. But the birds divided he not.
And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abraham drove
them away." Now, what is the security? What is the assurance
that this inheritance is his? The sacrifice. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? You see, because the sacrifice
has already been made, the inheritance already is mine by possession. Now live in the conscious awareness
of it. You're an heir of God. You have
true royalty flowing through your veins. You're an heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ. Now, the birds of the air are
always going to try to fly down and hit those... Somebody forgot to turn it off.
The birds of the air are going to come and try to mess up the
sacrifice, mess up your understanding of it, but Walk in the conscious
awareness that you are an heir of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
all that He has is coming to you. And as you walk through
this, oh, may God give us grace to walk by faith and not by sight. Oh, and what a blessing it is
to not worry, to not fret, to just simply walk in faith knowing
I'm in His hands. May God give us grace to imitate
faithful Abraham. Let's pray together.