Grace For Your Day September 12

Abraham is considered to be the father of the Jewish faith because he trusted in God in spite of tremendous difficulties. Just a brief overview of his life demonstrates that he had a strong confidence in Yahweh that superseded almost anyone else in history. For example,

• He left his father’s house to follow God when he was 75 years old
• He was circumcised when he was 99
• He trusted in God’s promise of a son even though he had to wait until he was 100 to have one through his wife, Sarah
• When the child came, he was willing to sacrifice him on an altar until the Lord stopped him
• He pursued a life of Godliness while living in a Godless place (i.e., he lived in the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah)
• He continued dwelling in tents without ever settling down in the Land of Canaan even though the Lord had promised it to his offspring 

The point is that Abraham was faithful to the Lord. Even though he never saw the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to him, he believed God would keep His Word and the Lord did so because there are now more than 14 million Jews living in the world. His descendants are as numerous as “the stars of the heavens and the sand on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17) because the Lord did what He said He would do for His servant.
 
This is an important lesson for us today because, after giving us the example of Abraham in Hebrews 6:13-17, the rest of the passage goes on to say:

 
The author makes a comparison here between Abraham’s faith and our faith to remind us that, whereas Abraham had a hope set before him, we have one too. While he had a promise that the Lord would give him a family, we have so much more than that because we have the promise that Jesus will bring us into the family of God since He is “an anchor of the soul.” He is a place of peace and safety for us as Christians because He has passed beyond the veil and gone into the presence of God in order to remind us that we can go there too if we put our trust in Him.  

We do not talk about anchors much today but, to the ancient people, an anchor symbolized stability because it showed you that, no matter what happened to your ship, it was not going to move. No matter how hard the wind blew and the waves crashed against it, it would hold steady through the storm because it was tied to something greater which is what we experience as Christians. Since our lives are fixed on Christ, we can know with confidence that we will never fall away from God and that is the greatest promise of all. It is a tremendous blessing to know that our souls are safe in the arms of Jesus which is what we are going to talk about this week at Grace Fellowship Church.
 
This Sunday, we are going to talk about “The Faith of Abraham” because that is the theme of the next passage in our studies in Hebrews. After talking about Moses in chapter 3 and Israel’s high priesthood in chapter 5, the author now proceeds to take us back even further in their history in order to remind us that this is where the people of Israel began. They did not begin with the Law; they began with faith. They did not start with works; they started when a humble man named Abraham put his trust in God and the Lord saved him as a result.

It is the same way for us because our salvation does not begin when we earn it, either. It starts when we put our trust in Jesus Christ. We just need to cling to Him as our anchor and, as we do so, He will take us through the stormy seas of this world and bring us safely through to the other side.  
Please join us as we talk about that in our time together. Our service begins at 9:30.

– Jeremy Cagle