The Faith of Abraham

Hebrews 11:8-19

     In our continuing series in the book of Hebrews, we come to the eleventh chapter tonight - Christian living by faith.  And this is a great, great section to just teach the basic principles of living by faith.  There are really only two ways to live in life; one is to live by sight, base everything on what you can see - that's the empirical approach, the other is to live by faith, base everything on what you can't see.  The Christian lives by faith, we base our lives on what we've never seen.  We've never seen God, we've never seen Jesus Christ, we've never seen heaven, we've never seen hell, never seen the Holy Spirit, never seen any one individual who wrote the Bible, never seen an original manuscript of the Bible, never seen any of the graces that God says He dispenses to us, they're not tangible, they're not visible to the eye, the human eye, and yet we bank not only our life but our eternal destiny on those things which we have never seen.  That's how the Christian lives.

     But the life of faith has some specific ingredients and I think they are pointed out very explicitly here in this particular text as we look at Abra­ham.  Hebrews 11 beginning in verse 8 and going through verse 19 presents to us Abraham as a pattern for faith.  And you'll remember that in the book of Hebrews the writer presents the priority of the new covenant.  Israel had always followed the cove­nant that God made in the Old Testa­ment, the sacrificial patterns, etc. etc.  And they had always believed that this was of God.  They had, however, allowed it to deteriorate into a works system where the old covenant had become nothing more than a ritual of works.  The writer of Hebrews comes along and says - let me show you a new covenant.  The new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ replaces the old covenant and it is a covenant of faith.  This is one where you only believe, you don't have to work to earn God's approval.  And even the old covenant they didn't have to earn God's approval, they didn't have to gain God by works but they misconstrued the whole thing and they got into a works system.

     So he presents to them all through the first ten chapters the new covenant, ends chapter 10 by saying you apprehend the new cove­nant by faith.  Now they're so long separated from faith that they've probably forgotten what it is and how it works so he spends all of chapter 11 describ­ing to them how faith works and what it is.

     We saw, first of all, that he began with Abel and the life of faith.  And then he moved into Enoch and the walk of faith.  Then he moved into Noah and the work of faith.  Now he comes to Abraham.  And Abraham becomes a composite of the pattern of faith.  Abraham reveals the totality of a faith life.  All of the ingredients that make up a real life of faith.  And it's a tremendous thing that he uses Abraham because, you see, the Jews took all of their lineage back to Abraham who was the first of their race, he was the one chosen by God.  And so Abraham is a strategic illustration.  If Abraham lived by faith then that sets the pattern, you see? The rabbis had long taught that Abraham pleased God by his works.  The rabbis had long taught that God looked around the earth and he found one super-righteous man and that was Abraham and chose him on that basis.  That needs to be counteracted, that needs to be contradicted.  Abraham was not righ­teous because he wasn't himself holy, he was righteous because he was a man of faith and God imputed righteousness to him.

     So he establishes here that Abraham lived by faith.  And if Abraham did so must every other Jew because Abraham is the pattern.  For example, in Acts chapter 7 when Stephen wants to pull an illus­tration of faith he uses Abraham.  In Romans chapter 4 when Paul wants to use an illustra­tion of faith it is Abraham.  Abraham is the classic example of the life of faith, always used in the face of Jews.  Stephen was talking to Jews, non-Palestine Jews in the first part of his ministry, but when he talked about Abraham he was talking to the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem.  Paul in Romans 4 was laying out a ground work in an argument with a Jew, the ground work of theology, but his antagonist was a Jew and he uses Abra­ham as the illustration of faith.  The writer of Hebrews is writing to Jews and he also uses Abraham.

     And, you see, this is very critical because if a Jew is to buy the fact that life must be lived by faith not by works and legalism, if he is to buy it then the greatest way to sell it to him is to prove to him that Abraham did it.  Because Abraham set the pattern for the living of the Jews.  He was the first.

     And, in fact, the Bible is clear about Abraham's  effect  and about Abraham's example.  It says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 7these words:

     "Know ye therefore that they who are of faith the same are the sons of Abraham."

     Since Abraham was the first man of faith, everybody that comes along putting faith in God is, in a spiritual sense, a child of Abraham.  And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed, so then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.  You go over to verse 26 of the same chapter; "For you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ.  Jesus." Then he says in verse 29; "And if you be Christ's then are you Abraham's seed.',

     Now we who are Gentiles are not the seed of Abraham physically, we are the seed of' Abraham spiritually because of faith.  He was the father of faith in the sense of the pattern of faith, as a life pattern.  And as the leader of modern society in a sense, because you see the other three, Abel, Enoch and Noah were pre-­flood, Abraham is the first man of faith after the flood in the new world apart from Noah who was both pre and aft but after the flood his faith kind of waned, you remember he was caught in sin immediately after.  But the first real established man of faith after the flood when the new world began was Abraham so he sets the pattern for us, the pattern of faith.  And so we who live by faith in God are, in a spiritual sense, children of Abraham.  We do not become Jews in a physical sense but in the spiritual sense we are the children of Abraham in terms of faith.

     Now Abraham's life was characterized totally by faith.  Genesis 15:6, clear back then, it says: "Abraham believed in the Lord and you see, he is calling them to leave the old covenant, leave the temple, leave the trappings of Judaism, leave the old priesthood and come to Christ. and just put your faith in Christ, you don't need all the works.  And they're having a hard time making the break.  And he must establish - Look, you don't need those works, you don't need that old covenant, old priesthood, old sacrifice routine just come to Christ and believe.  And in order to establish that that's possible he shows that even Abraham was justified by just believing.

     Now in this passage there are five features of faith that show us the complete pattern; the pilgrimage of faith, the patience of faith, the power of faith, the positivism of faith and the proof of faith.  And since Abraham is a spiritual prototype of every man of faith, we're going to consider this narrative in its spiritual sense and, I think, that's the sense in which the writer of Hebrews wanted us to consider it.  These five features, then, are the standards for faith.

     Number one, let's look at it, the pilgrimage of faith.  We see Abra­ham in all five of these things.  Verse 8; "By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheri­tance," what's the next word? "Obeyed, and he went out not knowing where he went." Now if anybody told us that they were going somewhere, they didn't know where, weld consider them to be in danger of getting into some real trouble.  Because they hadn't carefully charted the course.  But Abra­ham was told by God - Get up and get out of this city - I'm going to use you to found a. nation.  You're going to be father of a nation and through you will all the families of the earth be blessed.  And it was through Abraham's loins that finally Messiah came, and it is in Messiah that-, all the world is blessed.  So God said - Abraham, Get up and go to EL land that I'll show you.  It's all recorded in Genesis 12 and it's repeated clear through chapter 18, all that deals with Abraham's call and so forth and so on.  And Abraham was told to get up and go.  Now I like the fact of the use of a use of the Greek tense here, it says in verse 8 - By faith Abraham when he was being called.  That's a present participle, while he was being called he was obeying.  In other words, at the same moment of the call he obeyed.  You might translate it - While being called he obeyed.  In other words, it was instant kind of immediate obedience.

     Now I like this, too, it says in verse 8 "And he went out not knowing," not epistamai.  And that is the kind of knowledge not like gnosis or that kind of knowledge but it's to fix your attention on something, or to put your thoughts on something.  Now read it that way - He went, not even putting his thoughts on where he was going.  He was so obedient that he didn't even think about where he was going.  He just said - God, You say go ­I go.  Where is immaterial.  It's only a question of obedience.  That's the pilgrimage of faith.

     Now it's - you say, Well, he probably went because Canaan was so attractive.  No, he didn't even know where he was going.  He had no idea, it was strictly a pilgrimage of faith.  Now in a spiritual sense this is a very real lesson for us.  Abraham lived in a very unregenerate world.  Abraham lived in a city known as Ur, U-r.  It was located in Chaldea or Mesopota­mia, which is the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates river, far east of Israel.  A fertile land where the garden of Eden was originally located, where Babylon, the great city, was finally built and all of that was in that area.  And it was a very, very pagan place.  In fact, in Joshua. 24:2 it says that; "Terah, the father of Abraham served other gods." So he lived in idolatry.

     There is an interesting statement by Isaiah, I think it's in Isaiah 51, where Isaiah gives a little bit of insight into the kind of home that Abra­ham came from when he says this, Isaiah 51 verse 1; "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord," he says to Israel, "Look unto the rock from which you were hewned and to the hole of the pit from which you were digged, look unto Abraham." You say - Was Abraham the hole of a pit? Abraham was in bad shape living in Ur.  He was living in idolatry.  Abraham was a pagan.  Abraham was a heathen.  And it says - "Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah who bore you, for I called him alone, and blessed him." Sovereignly God called Abraham out of the pit, the pit of idolatry and paganism.  So when some­body comes up and says God chose Abraham because he was such a wonderful fellow you go to Isaiah 51 and tell him that he was a pit.

     So Abraham was a sinner.  He was living in a vile culture of paganism.  And the God of glory condescended in sovereignty to pick Abraham up and found a nation through his loins, sovereign grace.  And Abraham responded with faith, he said - Okay, okay, I'll go.  And he Went even while being called.  And that is why God declared him to be righteous.  That's the pilgrimage of faith.  To forsake his birthplace, his home, his estate, sever family ties, leave loved ones, abandon all of his present habits for future uncertainty, man, it must have been a hard thing to do but he did it.  There's a great spiritual lesson in here.  I believe that the life of faith begins - watch this - with a break of the idolatrous system in which men have lived so long.  When you come to Jesus Christ I think there's a pilgrimage that God demands at that point and that's to leave the pattern of living that you have been involved in and come into a new kind of life.  And I don't think I'm spiritualizing the text to say that, I think that's the point here.  Abraham's faith separated him from that which was pagan, you see.  I mean, "If any man be in Christ he is," what? "He's a new creation, some things have passed away and a few things have become new." Is that what it says? What does it say? "All things have passed away, all things have become new." You see, salvation demands separation, practical separation from the world is the beginning of the life of faith.  You say - All right, God, I don't know what You're going to do with me, but I'm going to drop all those old things.  I don't know what You're going to substitute for them but I'm going to let them go.  That's the pilgrimage of faith to leave the system of the world.  That's where faith life begins.

     In Romans chapter 12, this is so familiar; "I beseech you, there­fore, brethren, by the mercies of God you present your bodies a living sacrifice." That's the beginning, give yourself.  "Holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service," or spiritual worship.  "And be not conformed," what? "To this world." That's the beginning of the life of faith.  "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." And so the beginning, then, is to separate yourself from the world.

     Now there are so many, many passages that deal with this.  In II Corinthians 6, I'm just going to fumble through a few here, just listen as I read them, jot them down if you want.  II Corinthians 6:14; "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteous­ness with un­righteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?" Now there you have a theological foundation - light and dark don't get together, right? Then you have a practical exhortation, so don't try and make them get together.  "What concord hath Christ with Belial (or Satan), what part hath he that believeth with an atheist (or a non-believer)? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" You're the temple of the living God so there's no sense fooling around with the idolatrous.  So, you see, it's a basic principle.

     You have it again repeated in Galatians chapter 1 verse 4, listen to this; Verse 3, "Grace be to you and peace from God, the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ," verse 4, "Who gave Himself for our sins." Now watch, "In order that," that's a hina purpose clause, "That He might deliver us from this present evil age." You see? Salvation is, at its very first step, to take us out of the system.  It is to send us on a pilgrimage, by faith, into an unknown kind of lifestyle which we've never known before.  And, you know, that's a hang-up for a lot of people.  I know people who say - Well, I don't want to become all those little goodies I like to do I've got to trade in." You know, you don't say to every guy - Would you like to become a Christian? What-l's involved? Well, you love God a lot and you be holy and sinless and go to church and read the Bible and... And he goes - Oh boy, what a drag.  See that's a very common kind of reaction.  What; he doesn't understand is that once he becomes a Christian, he gets a new set of price tags, and all the things that use to be valuable are worthless and all the things that use to be worthless are valuable.  Because he's different.  But you see, for the average guy that kind of a pilgrimage is a little tough to make.  And even some who come to Jesus Christ find it hard to make.

     Over in Hebrews 13, there's a great thought there.  He says, 13, Hebrews 13:13; "Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him outside the camp bearing His reproach." You know, you've got to be willing to pay the price, walk away from the system and go where Jesus went.  Watch this, Oh, I love it; "For here we have no continuing city." We're strangers and pilgrims, aren't we? We don't belong here.  We have no continuing city but we seek one to come.  What are we doing fooling in a system? Let's go with Jesus outside the system.

     In James chapter 1 verse 27 we find it again; "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this," want to know what pure religion is? "To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." Did you know that? Listen to this; "And to keep oneself unspotted from the system." That's pure religion, the unspotted by the system.  James 4:4, another thought, "You adulterers and adulteresses," pretty strong, James.  "Know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." That's right.  There's no fellowship.

     Peter was on the same wavelength in I Peter chapter 1. He says in verse 14, he says; "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance." See, you use to be ignorant and you didn't know what else to do but lust, so you just went around lusting all the time.  Right? But now that you've come to Christ - cut it out.  Don't need to do that anymore.  I like it, verse 15; "But as he who called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of life." Isn't that good? You know what holy means? What does it mean? Separated.  Chapter 4 verse 2, this is basic but it's good, we need to be reminded, I need to be reminded; "Christ has suffered to release us from the flesh that we no longer should serve the rest of our time in the flesh, to the lusts of men but," what? "To the will of God."

     Second Peter 1:4, "By which are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Basic, you see, at salvation is separation.  And you say ­Well, what is worldliness? Is worldliness playing cards? The Bible doesn't say that.  Whew! Is worldliness taking a drink of wine? The Bible doesn't say that.  Is worldliness going to movies? The Bible doesn't talk about movies.  You say - Are there any principles that apply to all those things? Sure.  But you say - What is worldliness? Hang on, worldliness is sometimes an act, but mostly it's an attitude.  It's an attitude.  You see, now watch this one, it is not just not doing things, hang on now, it is not wanting to do them.  Are you with me? And there are really super-worldly people who never do anything really but oh would they like to.  But either they're hung up because they're in a position where everybody is focused on them, or they've got a self-imposed legalism that binds them to a system they hate or they don't have the guts to do it.  And so you know what happens? They become the worst kind of Pharisaical hypocrites imaginable because they have a masquerade of holiness and they're being ripped up on the inside from the guilt that's inside of them wanting to do what they know they can't do.  Worldliness is not so much what you do as what you want to do.  Now there are some people who wouldn't do it because if somebody saw you do it ... but if you knew somebody wouldn't see you do it---umph, you'd do it.  Now you can be restrained from doing things, you can be restrained from doing things by a self-imposed legalism that just brings terrible guilt.  You have enough guilt just thinking about doing them and you don't dare do them, you wind up in such guilt you'd probably have a nervous breakdown.

     And then there is the group pressure that keeps you from doing them.  Maybe you come to church and you're into a group and you're into a Bible study group and everybody in the group is studying the Bible and you go and it's verses--verses, Bible--Bible, theology-­theology and you want to wear the mask, and you want to play the game and down in your heart you're saying - Um, can't take any more of this Bible, I've got to get out and do something live it up.  See.  That's worldliness even though you never did it.  You say ­MacArthur, where do you get that? I get it right out of the Bible.  First John 2:15; "Love not," what? "The world, neither the things that are in the world." And you can have none of it and love it all, just like money - the love of money is the root of all evil, not money.  And my dad always used to say - you can love money like mad and have none of it.  Or you can have a whole lot of it and not love it.  But you see, the worldliness is an attitude, it isn't what you do it's what you want to do.  Do you know as you grow... and I'm just talking from experience...but as you grow as a Christian you know what happens? You begin to lose desire to do these things.  You want to know that every time I want to I go out and rob a bank? And every time I want to I go out and commit adultery.  And you know what? I never want to.  I never want to.  I hope anybody who listens to that tape - be sure to follow through and get that last part.  Don't break the tape there or I'm in real trouble.  You see, that's what spiritual maturity is all about, you see.  It's a process of growing to the place where you not only don't do it you don't want to do it.  You see? That's the pilgrimage of faith but it begins by separating yourself and as you concentrate on Jesus Christ pretty soon you don't even care anymore about that stuff.  I use to want to go to the movies.  Then I'd go away to college or seminary, I'd sign some covenant - I will not go to movies.  You know, oh, gee, sign that silly covenant and now I can't go to the movies.  I was worldly.  I just couldn't go because I'd get in trouble.  Now the desire is gone.  The time is gone too.  I think there's other priorities, you know, my family, my children, my wife, other things I need to do and I don't ... it's just that I don't do things because, I guess, I just don't have any desire to do them.  And there other things in my life yet that the Lord needs to give me victory over desires.  I have not attained, you know that.  But I know there's a progressive lack of desire for the things of the world as you grow in Christ.

     Moses had the same thing, look at chapter 11 verse 24.  "By faith Moses when he was come to years," when he was mature, "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," he spurned it.  "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Isn't that good? I mean, he did what he wanted to do.  You know, it's a wonderful thing in the Christian life when you do what you want to do.  That's when you're mature.  You can measure your Christian maturity when you find yourself able to do what it is that you want to do.  When you're a young Christian you find yourself saying - Boy, would I like to do that but I can't do that ... you see, I'm a Christian now.  Then as you mature pretty soon you find that all the things you want to do are the things you can do.  That means you've reached the level where God is not only control of the pattern of your living, He's controlling the pattern of your thinking.  And He's in control of your desires.  And that's when your life becomes exciting, when God controls your desires.

     Well, there's the pilgrimage of faith, it's just saying - All right, I've come to Jesus Christ, I whack off the old and I move into a new dimension, I don't understand all of it but I'm going to go that way, I'm going to believe God to fulfill my life in that.  Noah went ... or Abraham went and he didn't know where he was going but he went anyway cause God said get out of this place.  And, you know, I imagine Abraham's neighbors thought he was nuts.

     Where are you going, Abraham?

     I don't know.

     You don't know? You're packing up your whole crowd and you're going and you don't even know where you're going?

     No, I don't know where I'm going.

     Well, who told you to go?

     God.

     Which God?

     The only true God.

The only true God, eh Abraham? Which one is that?

Well, I don't know His name.

You don't know His name? Don't know where He's taking you.

Don't know where you're going? Do you know why?

No, I don't know that either.

     I'll never forget when I spoke out at Valley State College in Rabbi Kramer's ethics class.  He asked me to speak on Christian sex ethics.  And, this was a very interesting opportunity, to put it mildly.  And I first began by saying - Now I want you to realize that I know that you're going to think I'm crazy because I've imposed upon myself this kind of an ethic in morals.  Because for you, you see, sex is just a matter of do your own thing, do whatever you want to do, you know, let your glands be your guide, just whatever you feel go do it.  See.  That's basic - that's the way the world operates.  And that's the way you think.  Now I said, I feel differently.

     I said, I feel that this is God's ordained pattern. And then I said this - And I don't expect you to buy it because you don't have a personal relation­ship with the God of the universe like I do.  Oh, then they'll say - huh-huh-huh.  See. And I put them on the defensive immediately by saying they wouldn't accept it and, of course, if you know anything about college students they're just liable to say - Oh yeah? Which is what I'd hope they'd say, you know.

     Then I went in to present the ethics that the Lord Jesus Christ and that the Old Testament presents as to what God's standards are for a pure life, about the fact that God sees sex as something very beautiful and that He has created for marriage, inside of marriage and inside of marriage alone.  And I went into all of this, you know, and you can just imagine the reaction in a typical college classroom.  But you see, it was because they didn't under­stand that this was...this was between me and God and this was the desire of my heart because I had a personal relationship with God.  And I only wanted to satisfy Him, not myself.

     And so you see, to separate yourself from the world is the beginning of the pilgrimage of faith, even though the world thinks you're crazy.  They don't understand.

     All right, the second thing Abraham shows us is not only the pilgrimage of faith but the patience of faith.  Faith not only gets going in the beginning but it's very patient as it moves.  I like this in verse 9, "By faith he sojourned," that means he stayed, he just was a kind of transient, paroikeo which means...actually oikeo means to dwell and para means along side, so to dwell along side or dwell beside or among.  "He dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob," Isaac who came as his son and Jacob who was Isaac's son and all the way down the line, they still dwelled in tents.  "The heirs with him of the same promise." You know, that even when he got to the land he never got the promise? You know that in all of Abrabam's life in the land he never owned the land? God never gave it to him.  The only thing he did was buy a little plot to bury ... as a burial ground, that's all.  That was it.  He owned nothing and he was a transient in the land.  And so he had to be patient.  You can imagine him saying - Well now, God, You've got me over here, I've separated myself from the old life, You told me that I'm really going to have a great time and this is just ridiculous, I'm bouncing around from place to place in a tent.  He's very much like the believer, you know, God pulled us out of the world and told us He had something better for us but we're still waiting for it, aren't we, in a sense? We haven't gotten to heaven yet, have we? And, I mean, pilgriming through this world can be kind of rough once in a while.  And so in a very real sense we need to exhibit what he did - the patience of faith.

     Back in Acts chapter 7, you who are studying with us on Sunday morning will remember, in verse 5 - it says that he gave ... Stephen preaching about Abraham says; "And God gave him no inheritance in the land, no not so much as to set his foot on." He only promised that He would give it to him in his seed after him.  But he didn't even have a child, so how could he have a seed? That would be raised up.  So he had to be very patient.  He dwelt in a land as a foreigner and the word paroikeo came to mean one who doesn't even have the rights of a citizen.  He was a foreigner in a land.  And again he is the perfect picture of the Christian.  What does the song say? "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through." And it's right, we're pilgrims here, strangers in this world.

     And as I think about that I have to think with Abraham, you know, don't invest too much in this world.  Are you with me on that one? Don't invest too much in this world.  Jesus put it this way; He said, "Lay not for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupts and thieves break through and steal, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt, where thieves do not break through and steal." Why? Because where your treasure is - what? "That's where your heart is going to be."

     So, you see, as long as you're only a pilgrim here just be patient.  Don't invest too much in this world.

     You know, it's better to spend Saturday making a Christian man out of your son than making $10,000 for your bank account.  It's better to spend Sunday morning teaching little girls about Jesus than shopping for the newest fashions and spending money and time for leisure vacations.  Would you buy that? Sure.  Order your priorities, work for the stuff that really matters.

Abraham waited patiently for the really valuable things.  He remained faithful.  And he never saw God's promise fulfilled, he just waited and waited and waited.  You know, and the hardest times are the in-between times.  Right? I can imagine that when he first left Ur, Oh, man, was he excited.  Right? The first day you got saved, fantastic, exciting.  And I can imagine the day that he entered into the presence of God and all the glory and boy, those two days are exciting but the in between times are the tough times.  I mean, when you've just got to exist and God keeps saying - It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.  You say I know, I keep hearing it but I don't see it.  That's the real test of the patience of faith - to work, to work, to work, to wait, to wait, to watch, to watch.  See? You know about those Christians who become weary in what? Well doing? They run out of gas.  We have a lot of them. 

     If the Lord was coming next Saturday and we announced it, there are a whole lot of Christians who would work very hard because they knew it would be over by Saturday.  Boy, when you start looking at life like that you've lost the patience of faith.  Take it a day at a time, believe God.

     Abraham never grew impatient.  Reminds me of the little story I told you a few weeks ago about the little boy on the street corner.  And his dad was hours and hours and hours late.  Finally when he came ... you remem­ber that? His dad said - Were you worried, were you worried? No, you promised you'd come, I just waited, I knew you'd come.  See? That's the same kind of a thing, we need to be so patient that we're involved.

     I think of William Carey.  If you've ever read his biography, you understand something of the dimension of the man.  He went to India as a missionary, spent 35 years there.  In 35 years you could have counted on one hand the people he won to Jesus Christ.  Thirty-five years! I mean, after six months I'd be saying - God, are You sure this is where I belong? I'd be getting pretty itchy.  Closed out his life, you know what happened? Every missionary whose ever gone to India since owes his missionary work to William Carey.  You know what he spent 35 years doing? Translating all the dialects...translating the Word of God into all the dialects of India.  And every other missionary effort that's been carried on there has been based on his work.  Now I'm thankful to God that the man knew something about the patience of faith, aren't you? I'm thankful to God that he didn't throw in the towel after three years.  That's the patience of faith.

     In II Thessalonians 1:4, and you can expand these thoughts, the Apostle Paul says; "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecu­tions and tribulations that you endure." Isn't that great? He says - I'm excited about the fact that you hang in there when the going gets tough.

     Over there in Hebrews 12:1, you remember that verse; "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witness­es, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with," what? "Patience," patience, "The race that is set before us." Patience - what a great virtue.

     James had something to say about that.  James 1:3 ... verse 4 he said...well, 3, yes; "Knowing this that the testing of your faith worketh," what? "Patience." If you really believe God, you'll be patient.  Let patience have her perfect will.  Patience - great thing ... refines you.  And then James also says, I think it's at the end there, chapter 5 verse 7; "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.