Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm so glad you're listening today. My name is Chad Roberts and I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. You're about to hear a powerful sermon that I know is going to encourage you. If you like what you hear, share it with a friend and subscribe to our weekly devotions and get encouragement right to your inbox at chadroberts.org. My prayer for you is that this year is the best yet.

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. I hope you are enjoying our exploration of the book of Hebrews, and now particularly chapter 11, the Hall of Faith. Today is week five in our Hall of Faith study. We began in week one with really explaining biblically what the definition of faith is, because a lot of people, all they have is superstition. All they have is a big dose of religion, and religion is not faith, it is not biblical faith.

So, we spent some time explaining what is true, authentic, genuine faith. And then in week two, we saw Abel. We called that faith that worships rightly. We saw the difference between Abel, who did things on God's terms, and then we saw the way of Cain, his brother, the way of Cain that did life on his own terms. We learned that Cain did not refuse to worship God, he refused to worship God rightly, and many of us make the same mistake.

Then in week three, we examined the life of Enoch, one of my favorites in the Bible. We called that faith that walks. Faith that worships, faith that walks, and Enoch walked with God until he was not. We saw he's a picture of the rapture and he was translated up into heaven. And then we saw the life of Noah last week. We called that faith that warns. Noah was such a witness for God. He was a witness of the salvation of God because he was a warning of the judgment that is to come, and that was a sobering message last week on the life of Noah.

Today, there is a transition in chapter 11. We're going to look at Abraham and we're going to call today "Faith That Waits." How many of you love to wait? Or how many of you are just like me? You don't want to sit with me in a waiting room. When I had eyesight and I would zip all over town, I even hated waiting at red lights. I hate waiting, and one of the most difficult things in life is to learn to wait for God. But friends, God is in the waiting. Amen?

We love Amazon Prime. Click the button and it arrives the next day or two. God is not Amazon Prime, and we have to wait sometimes. That's what the life of Abraham is going to teach us today. The transition that happens in chapter 11 that I find very interesting is the book shifts from the pre-flood era—Abel, Enoch, Noah—to now the post-flood era. We know that there are environmental changes that are happening in the post-flood era.

We know that many things are changing about the earth because sin brings death. I think even the DNA of humanity, the further removed that we get from Eden and all that God intended in the garden, the shorter our lifespans. We know according to the Scriptures that Adam lived some 900 years. We know that Noah was 600 when God told him to build the ark. We know Enoch was 300 years old when God translated him into heaven.

We know that Abraham according to the Bible was only 175 when he died. Abraham and the patriarchs, his son Isaac, his son Jacob, and his son Joseph. Joseph was 110 when he died. Look how far we are removed from Noah to Joseph, and the lifespan of humanity is shrinking. Very interesting. But the faith of Abel, the faith of Enoch, the faith of Noah, was the same faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And it's the same faith of us today. Amen?

Now, let's go to Hebrews 11, verse number eight. I want us to dive deep into this today. Faith that waits. The Bible teaches that by faith Abraham was called. I want to show you three things in verse eight: number one, that Abraham was in fact called by God; number two, he obeyed; number three, he went out. There was action to his obedience and his faith. Abraham lived in a place that the Bible identifies as the Ur of the Chaldeans. It was pagan.

There were numerous gods. Abraham did not grow up in a Christian family. Abraham grew up a pagan. And what happened to Abraham is what's happened to many of us here today. Abraham had an experience, Abraham had an encounter with the living God. And when Abraham encountered the living God, everything changed about his life. And you know what God said to Abraham? God said, "I want you to leave your homeland, I want you to leave the Ur of the Chaldeans, and I want you to go out and I want you to seek and go where I tell you to go."

And I can imagine the conversations in Abraham's life. I can imagine all of his family saying, "What are you thinking?" I can imagine friends, before Abraham and Sarah sat down for dinner, I imagine them getting knocks on their door and friends and neighbors coming by saying, "I heard the craziest thing. I heard you're leaving. What are you talking about?" And Abraham just plugged into Google Maps and he looked at all of the—no.

The Bible says in verse nine that Abraham was willing to dwell in tents, live as a foreigner in a foreign land, and he had no idea where he was going. He went out by faith. Do you know why? Because he was called. In a moment, we're going to work our way down to verse 15 and 16, and let me show you where I'm going. The Bible says that the whole point of Abraham's life of going out and seeking a better country and living as a foreigner is it's a picture of mine and your life today as Christians.

That we are strangers in this world, we are pilgrims in this world, we are exiles in this world. Why? Because this world is not our home. We have been called by God. Amen? We seek a country, a better country, a heavenly country. And you know what the Scripture says in verse number 15? It says that had Abraham been thinking about the land from which they came, there would have been opportunity to go back.

And who is Hebrews written to? It's written to Christians who are constantly feeling the draw to go back to their old ways. Always to go back to their old lifestyle, always to go back to the old patterns. And friends, let me tell you, nothing has changed in our day. There are so many of you listening today, you have been called by God. There is a calling from heaven on your life. You're called to salvation, you're called to come out of sin.

But you keep thinking about the old life. You keep thinking about where you came out of. You keep thinking about old relationships and old friends and old addictions and old things from the past. And I'm going to show you today how you can sever every one of those. And like Abraham, you can come out of the old and you can begin to walk in the new. Can we say amen today? How do you do it? Abraham did it.

I can imagine his family, I can imagine his friends saying, "Abraham, you have lost your mind. Where do you think you're going? This is home. This is what's familiar." How many of you, when you came to Christ, your family and friends thought you had lost your mind? Anybody been there before? My mom was saved in her early twenties and her parents had never been to church. My mom got saved, started going Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. They thought she had joined a cult.

All because she got serious about following Jesus. Some of your family, some of your friends, they have no idea what you're doing. Some of you precious people, some of you, you don't understand what's going on in your life right now. You don't understand why all of a sudden the things you used to do that didn't bother you, now they bother you. Let me tell you what's happening, brother, sister. God's calling you.

You're around friends that used to have such an influence on you and now you don't enjoy their company like you once did. And you're scratching your head saying, "What's going on?" I'll tell you what's going on: God's calling you. I had somebody tell me just recently, they said, "Chad, I come every Sunday and I don't even know why I'm there." I know why you're here: you're called. There's a calling coming into your life out of sin, out of the old path, out of the old lifestyle, out of the old habits, out of the addiction, out of the sin.

And God is calling you, amen? He's calling you. And you say, "Chad, I don't know where I'm going." Neither did Abraham. That's why we walk by faith and not by sight. And Abraham left it all. He left the friends, he left the family, he left the roots, he left what was familiar, he left what he knew, he left the comforts, he left it all to follow God. And let me tell you, brothers and sisters, we are called to do the same.

I had a young girl tell me years ago, she said, "Pastor Chad, I need your help." She said, "I don't understand what's going on with me." She said, "I feel like I'm in a tug of war." She said, "I will pull myself into church and into God and then I'll do good for a while and then I'm just pulled back into the world. And then I work real hard and I get back into church and I try with all my might and then I'm pulled back into the world." And she said, "I don't know what to do. Can you tell me what to do?" I said, "Yes. Drop the rope."

Stop playing the game. Amen? Turn and leave and walk away. That's what repentance is: it's to turn. I'll tell you how to drop the rope: pick up the cross and follow Jesus. Amen? I'll tell you this: when you pick up a blood-splattered cross, the cross of Christ, and you begin following God, you're not going to go back to the world. Amen? Pick up your cross. Hallelujah! Can I preach right now? Now listen, I love you. You know I love you, right? You know I love you.

But some of you, you think God's mad at you and prayers don't get answered and you're in this great struggle and why doesn't life work out? Baby, I'm telling you now: pick up your cross, amen! God's not mad at you. Come on, look at me right now. I can't see you. You're looking at me? God's not mad at you. He's for you, not against you. And you say, "Chad, why aren't things working out?" I'll tell you why: it's a hard road. This thing's not easy.

If all you want to do is come to a cute church and hear a cute sermon, there's plenty of places to do that. But I'm telling you, this is a narrow road and it is mighty difficult. But it leads to life. Pick up your cross. Follow Jesus. That's what Abraham did. He went out, he was willing to live in tents. I don't know what kind of house he had in the Ur of the Chaldeans. I don't know what life was like. I can't even imagine this time period.

Could you imagine living without AC? Do you think you could do it? I'll answer: no. And neither could I. Could you imagine? And I don't know what kind of house he had. I don't know what kind of square footage he had. But I tell you this, it don't matter where you live, you go from that to a tent? That's a rude awakening. And he was willing to live in tents, he was willing to live as a foreigner, he was willing to not know where he was going.

See, some of you, some of you can't—what a word, what a word for somebody right now. I don't know who this is for. But you are utterly stuck. You can't pray, you can't serve God, you can't worship God, you can't love God. You are stuck because you don't have any answers. You know what? Abraham had no answers, and he still went forward. Amen? Now is that truth or is that truth? Abraham and Sarah had one promise from God. One!

They say that in our Bibles there are some 7,000 promises from God. Should you and I not be stronger in faith than Abraham and Sarah? You say, "Chad, I don't know if it's going to work out." Neither did Abraham. "I don't know what I'm doing in life." Neither did Abraham. "I don't know if God's going to fulfill His promise." Neither did Abraham. But he walked by faith. Are you? Now, verse number 10: so what was he doing?

Here he's living in tents, but now he's seeking a city with foundations whose builder and designer is God. Verse number 11: by faith Sarah received the power to conceive. Why? The Scripture tells us because she considered Him faithful who promised. Verse 12: out of one man, out of Abraham, the seed of Abraham, out of one man his descendants came and listen to what Scripture says: God fulfilled His promise. They were innumerable, more than the stars of the sky, more than the sand of the seashore.

But here's what I want to show you today. Look what the Scripture says, verse 13 I think: these all died in faith without seeing the things promised. What's it mean to die in faith? It means that you die with the hope, with the confidence, with the trust, with the belief that God is who He says He is and will do what He promises to do. Amen? That's what it means to die in faith. All these—who? Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah—all these died in faith without seeing the things promised.

But what did they do? They saw it from afar, they greeted it from afar. Amen? You know what this verse means, precious people? You might want to write this down. It means that we receive some things in this life. That's why we pray for divine healing, that's why we pray for God to intervene in situations, that's why we know He works all things together for our good. That's why we stand on those things. But my inheritance is not that God is a genie in a bottle.

My inheritance is that God is faithful to everything that He promised. And here's the reality of the Christian walk: God will do some things now, but He'll do all things later. I will receive some in this life, I will receive it all in my inheritance in heaven. That's why you got to keep your eyes on that heavenly country. You got to realize we're pilgrims, we're strangers, we're exiles. God's goal is not to make you as comfortable as you can be. We're pilgrims. Amen?

So, some of you today, you're hurt at God, you're mad at God, you're angry at God because things aren't panning out, things aren't working out. Brother, sister, you'll receive some in this life, but you'll receive it all in heaven. I remember one sister that used to go here and I loved her so much, and she passed away a few years ago. And she had a daughter who had spiraled deep into addictions. And I would join this woman in faith.

She would come to prayer meeting nights and there were many, many times that she called me on the phone and we joined our faith and we called out for her daughter. I'm not going to say her daughter's name, but I'll tell you this: the mama called the daughter "Sis." And when I pray for her today, I still pray for Sis. I know God knows who I'm praying for. And this precious lady, woman of God, she died. She died without seeing the promise fulfilled.

She died without seeing what she was believing for. But let me ask you a question: have her prayers died? No! They are right now before the throne of God. They are preserved in those golden bowls of incense. They are a sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Have her prayers died? No, because do you know this church still prays for Sis? Do you know where Sis is? I don't know where she is in the city, I don't know where she is in her addiction, but I tell you, she's on that prodigal cross.

Amen? And every time you pray for those prodigals, you're praying for Sis. And listen, the mama may not have seen in this life promises fulfilled, but she will see it. Amen? They greeted them from afar and they acknowledged that they were strangers, that they were pilgrims, that they were exiles on the earth. Now watch, this is where we come into play. This is where we enter the story. Look what verse 14 says: and people who speak thus—who?

People who are in this same camp, people who speak this language, people who have come out of the old and they're walking in the new, people who believe God, people who take God at His word—people who speak thus make it clear we seek a better country.

Chad Roberts: Did you know that I'm a pastor, husband, and father of four who suddenly went blind in 2018? Today, I teach people how life is not random but is actually orchestrated by God for a great purpose. Learn more about my story and Awakened to Grace at chadroberts.org.