We all have our sorrows and we all have our pains and sometimes we don’t always share what we are going through.  Sometimes it’s best not to share what we’re going through and sometimes it’s good to share.  It depends on what it is. The one thing we need though is faith in order to be able to endure the things we need in this life.  And not only just for that but just to love the Lord and just to be able to serve Him the way we need to serve Him. 

I’m going to explain something about the way I teach so you understand that I teach a little bit of Hebrew as I’m going, I teach Jewish roots. I’m not taking you back and putting you under the Law but because the Law is Holy and the Law is Perfect and the Law is Just.  The New Covenant is a fulfillment of the Law.  That does not mean that the Law has been done away with and it doesn’t exist anymore.   It does.  It’s our teacher.  It teaches us.   And it’ll always teach us because we do not know all that there is about Christ that we should know.  So it’s our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ and it’s still bringing us to Christ and is still teaching us.  It did not have the ability to put the Spirit into our lives.  The New Covenant does and that’s in Jesus when we receive the Holy Spirit within us.  So when you listen to me, I want you to realize that I’m not trying to, what normally people think, put you under the Law and tell you that you cannot be saved except through the Sabbath or except through the feasts or except through those kind of things.  Because we are not saved that way.  We are saved through the Blood of Jesus Christ, through the New Covenant and by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.  So I wanted to make that clear as I teach that that’s how I believe and that’s what the Bible teaches.   

We’re going to talk about Faith and what is it. As I was listening to a teaching about Abraham and Faith and I was thinking about Faith and what does it mean.  Faith is a relationship with God.  It is a relationship with God.  A lot of people explain Faith as, well, if you don’t have Faith, you are not going to be healed, or if you don’t have Faith this is not going to happen.  And everybody that needs something they try to get enough Faith to be able to earn almost what they’re going to receive.  That is not Faith! I want us to realize that this is not Faith.  It says our Father Abraham is found frequently in Jewish Roots and Rabbinic Literature.  He’s called Father Abraham.  Do you remember Jesus when He taught from the New Testament and He said Father Abraham?  Do you remember when he said that?  He said it when Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom.  Jesus was speaking as a Jew.  How many know that Jesus was a Jew?  Jesus taught Jewish things.  He taught the Old Covenant which is the first covenant, which God made with mankind.  He made covenant with man.  So Jesus talks about Father Abraham.  It says but the New Testament attests to it many times, the Old Testament in the Gospels and Acts and the Epistles.  This should not surprise us since the Theological reflections and terminology of the sages and rabbis formed the Jewish views of Yeshua, Jesus.  Jesus means Yahweh is saving.  Yahweh is saving.   When we look at Salvation.  Salvation is not just to save us from hell, although that’s a good thing.  But it’s not just to save us from hell.  It’s to cause us to become acquainted with God the Father.  It’s Salvation.

Abraham was considered the first proselyte to Judaism.  He became the patriarch of the Jewish nation. He is esteemed for many virtues such as wisdom, courage, passion, hospitality, generosity and the determination to teach his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.  So I want us to see Abraham in a different light.  I want to be like Abraham.  Someone said to me the other day…  well, Abraham, he lied.  He lied a couple of times in a kind of a way.  He said Sarah was his sister.  Well Sarah was his half-sister.  He did that because he was afraid.  You think about Abraham. He came out of an idolatrous nation.  He was the first one that began to really serve God.  He heard the voice of God and he obeyed.  He heard the voice of God and he said OK I’m going for it.  It says that he had wisdom.  What is wisdom?  What is the wisdom of God?  He had insight. He saw something. He heard something. He knew something. He had wisdom.  So in Abraham when I come to know Jesus, I become Abraham’s seed.  I am a part of Abraham.  He is my ancestor.   Even though I came from a pagan.  Actually I was never pagan. I came from a Christian family and they believed but from a pagan background.  Gentile. Not a Jew.  Do you know what?   Abraham is my ancestor.  He was pagan. He was a gentile and he came into Judaism.  It says here that he had courage.  Do you want courage?  Courage means in the sight of everybody no matter who is against you and no matter who is for you, you go ahead.  You do what God says.  No matter who turns against you, no matter what happens, you do what God says. That’s courage.   Not everybody will like you because you have courage.  But that’s Abraham’s religion.  He had passion. He had passion for God.  He had emotion towards God and he obeyed that passion. He went ahead with God. He was hospitable. He brought the two angels and God into his tent when they came.  It says that Abraham entertained angels. He entertained God and he entertained the angels.  Abraham brought people into his home and he entertained them. I want to entertain angels. I want to entertain the saints of God, the people of God, like they were angels because they are.   In the sight of God they’re saints.   It says that he had generosity.  He was a giver.  He gave of himself and he gave of what he had.   He wasn’t stingy. He didn’t have a stingy eye. He had a generous eye.   And he gave of himself. I want to be that way.  

Abraham had the determination to teach children.  Parents, you need to teach your children.  You shouldn’t bring them to church and say they’re going to learn everything they need to know there.  They’re going to learn from you.  You need to be their guides.  You need to teach them the ways of God. The greatest determination in your life should be that you would lay a foundation in your children that when they go through trials and tribulations and they will, that they should not turn away from God. They should serve God and that they should teach their children to serve God.  God loved Abraham because he knew that he would take this faith of his and he would implant it into his children.  Some children who are raised in the ways of God do not have any conception of how they’ve actually been raised because they’ve been raised in Godly homes and been taught the things of God.   They don’t realize what it is like to be raised in a home that teaches nothing about God.  They do not realize what a blessing that they’ve had put in their life to have had Faith walk before them; Faith shown to them. And that is why they have Faith in their lives today.  This is what I would tell all of you. Teach your children. Teach them.  This was Abraham.

 It says that He said to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and what is just in the sight of God. It’s very strange how God will speak to you and he will tell you not to do this or not to do that or you come up against… you know how you come up against a curb on the street and you know that that’s as far as you should go.  And it may be very legal for everybody else but you know it’s not legal for you.  This is teaching of God.  This is God’s directing us in our lives.  And it says but above all else Abraham is honored in the word of God because of his faith that he had.   He is the very embodiment of the righteous shall live by his faith in Romans 1:17 and Habakkuk.  It says for this reason Abraham is central to the theological reflection of the New Covenant.  For those of who are formerly gentiles, pagans, to be in Messiah by faith is not only to be grafted into the family of God, the God of Israel, but also to become a part of the very seed of Abraham himself.

When I went to Israel I felt honored as I stood outside the building, which they have built over the gravesite and the cave where Abraham is buried.  The Jewish people go there and they pray prayers because it’s a place of honor.  It’s a place of sacredness to the Jewish people because of Father Abraham.  Why is he a father?  Because he taught the Jewish people. He taught the people of God how to believe, how to take hold of the promises of God and claim them for themselves.  This is who Father Abraham is.  And it says that we share in the covenant, promises and blessings that were conferred upon Abraham’s offspring. What an honor to share in the blessings of God.  What an honor to be a person of Faith.  It says that Moses became our teacher but Abraham is called our father.  Clearly then we do well to reflect on our family heritage and to ponder the patriarchs of our faith. You see, I know Jacob, I know Isaac, and I know Abraham. I know these patriarchs very well. I have walked after them. I have met them. I have met them through my experiences, I’ve met them in my life, and I can convey the same experiences that they’ve had in their lives and so can you people, as you walk with God.  It says he has much to teach us indeed as believers in Yeshua, we are called to walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had.  What was his faith?  And how does it relate to the Almighty’s covenant with him.  Let us consider Abraham and his faith from a Hebraic point of view. 

It says “emunah” which is the word for faithful … faithful … faithful.  I want you to take the word Faith and set it aside and say to yourself it’s not faith, it’s faithful.  Faithful… faithful… faithful… faithful…  This is the word you need to look at is faithful.  And people I look around and I see people come into the kingdom.  I see them serve God for a while, and then I don’t see them anymore.  I see them out in the world and I see them go back to the world and my heart grieves.  God must grieve to see people come into the faith of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and then walk away. But if you have walked away, walk back.  Walk back!  The Jewish have a famous saying for Teschuva.  Turn around, make a U-turn in the middle of the road and come back to God.  So “emunah” is the Hebrew word for Faith.

In some important ways the Hebrew differs from the Greek.   Now remember what I’m going to teach you this morning also is that the Greek way of thinking is almost in some ways opposite to the Hebrew way of thinking.  So when you go back to the Hebrew way of thinking, you begin to really see what the word really is talking about.  It says that in some important ways it differs from the Greek corresponding word for faith. The English concept for faith is belief.  But that’s still not it.  There are a lot of people who believe and never serve God.  Even Satan believes.  He believes that there’s One God and he believes that there’s a God.  But he certainly isn’t faithful, is he?  So this is what Faith is all about. It says to clarify this and cast fresh light on the New Testament discussions of faith, which often are divisive in the way that they speak.  It says such is the dispute about faith versus works.  You ever heard of that?  You ever heard that you don’t earn your salvation by works.  Faith is not works.  You ever heard that discussion?  It’s so untrue.  If there is no works, there’s no faith. And if there’s faith, there’s going to be works.   What are we talking about works?  We’re talking about being faithful.  We’re talking about being faithful to God. So it will help you see Abraham the Father of all you believe in your life and edify our life in Jesus the Messiah.

 The first occurrence of emunah in the Bible is found in Torah in Exodus 17.  It uses there and sets a significant standard for all occurrences of the term in the scripture and illustrates an essential truth about faith from Hebraic perspective.  The setting is the unwarranted and malicious attack of the Amalekites against the recently redeemed children of Israel on their way to meet God at Sinai.    

Exodus 17:10-12       So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered and Moses and Aaron Hur went to the top of the hill.  As long as Moses help up his hands the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands the Amalekites were winning.  When Moses' hands grew tired they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady till sunset.  So Joshua overcame the Amalekite Army with a sword.  The key phrase is found in verse 12.  “And his hands remained steady.”  The word in Hebrew is emunah, faithful.  We win the battles by becoming faithful.  We win the battles.  And I’m going to tell you something people if you do not remain faithful you will not win the battle.   The word steady is actually the Hebrew word for Faith.  This important truth can easily escape English readers in which they take in this case; they miss the understanding that emunah fundamentally implies firmness… steadiness… steadfastness… persistence… stability and loyalty.   

I’m going to talk about those words just a little bit.  Firmness.  What does firmness mean?  When something comes to push you off the way and many things can do this. People can do this.  Situations can do this.  Your mate can do this. Your children can do this. Anything can do this. But behind it is not the person; it's the enemy of your soul.   Firmness means to stand against something.  That when the winds come, the storms come, the situations come that will blow you over and knock you off the course of life, that you will stand firm against whatever’s coming against you.   

Then it says that the next word is steadiness.  Steadiness.  Steadiness means not to be moved off the course in the way that you believe and in the way that you think and in your emotions and your heart.  Be steady. Don’t be movable. Don’t let anything move you. Be steady.  And there will come things in your life that will cause you to be feeling so unstable for the moment.  Steadfast. Unmovable. Never move away from God. Never move away from Him. And if you do, move back.  

Persistence.  Persistence.   The Word of God, the things of God, the promises of God, be persistent with God. Be persistent with people that you know the truth; you know the way.

Fidelity.  Be faithful. There are some of you people in here you would never think about being unfaithful to your mate. What about being unfaithful to God?  Never be unfaithful to God. Though they kill me, though they slay me, Job said I will serve Him.   Be faithful to God. And if you’ve been disloyal and if you’ve been unfaithful to God then start again.  Start again.  Don’t let yourself be unfaithful for the rest of your life. Say Lord I’m sorry, forgive me. And get up and go on.  

Then the word Loyalty.  We all know what Loyalty means. He is my Savior. There is none else. There is no one besides him. 

In a word the foundation of the Hebrew of faith is really faithfulness. 

Moses’ hands remained firm until the going down of the sun.   Don’t you know he was tired? Don’t you know he was tired of trying to hold his arms up and then two guys get on each side of him and they help hold his hands up?  We’re talking about an 80 year old man. He was tired.  You say, well, I’m young I can fight.  No, you might be young in your body.  If you’re young in your spirit you will not have the ability unless you learn what faithful is.  You’ve got to learn what faithfulness is in order to fight the battles that will come to you.  And I would imagine every single one of you have had battles, a lot of them.  But you know what, you’re still here and life is still going on and you’re going to have some more.    

It says that he was faithful until the going down of the sun.   Faithfulness is the word.  It is the victory that overcomes the world.  Faith is the victory.  To be faithful, I overcome whatever comes against me.  Sorrow, pain, disappointment, we all will suffer disappointment. We all will suffer sorrow.  We all will suffer many things in our lifetime.  We will overcome!   Faith gives the victory; to be faithful to God. You may go down for the moment, but I'll tell you what. If you remain faithful, you're going to come up. To the Hebrew mind, faith is more than belief in something, it is faithfulness to someone.   Faith is faithfulness to Yeshua, faithful to the God of Israel.

Emunah is clearly related to the word for Truth.  The word Faith also is in the word Amen. Amen and also Truth.   Emunah is closely related to the word for Truth and it does imply trust and belief.  But it’s more than just a mental ascent to the truthful word or the confidence that comes from intellectual conviction.  Just to have knowledge is not going to cause you to remain faithful. Knowledge is good. Study is good. But it has to even be more than that.  Faith is fully Hebraic only when it is fully faithful.  Perhaps we can render it this way.  It is faithfulness.  

Biblical faith is both trust and trustworthiness. It is both. It’s trusting in the Lord, but can He trust in us?  Can He trust in me?  Biblical faith is both trust and trustworthiness.  Both conviction and persistent determination but it stands or falls on this foundation. Are you faithful? Are you faithful? If you do not stand firm in your faith you will not stand at all.  To fail to see this is to fall short of the faith of our father Abraham.  Believe faith and Abraham.  Consider Abraham.   He believed God.  And God reckoned, or counted him, as righteousness.  Righteousness. He had righteousness.

God also called him His friend.  Abraham is my friend. And you know when God said that about Abraham, he is my friend what God was saying is that he is faithful. He is faithful. He’s my friend. He’s faithful to me. You know many times things will come against us and we will want to get upset with people and we will want to get mad with them and everything, but you know, the first thing we need to do is realize you have be to faithful to your friends.   You have to be faithful, or you’re not a friend. If you allow yourself to be convinced or to be angry with them at any period of time you’re not faithful to them. You’re not their friend.

However, even demons believe that God is one.  It says belief is related to that wonderful Hebrew word Amen.   The point might be emphasized this way.   Abraham Amen God.  So what was distinctive and commendable about our father Abraham’s faith was… what was it?  Abraham believed and trusted in God and God considered him righteous because he lived by his faithfulness.  In other words his faith was perfected.  Abraham’s faith was perfected.  Was Abraham perfect?  No. If Abraham had been perfect, he would not have chosen Hagar.  He would not have been talked into it.  If he would have believed what God said completely and absolutely he would not have done that.   But they were trying to work out what God had promised before the time it was to occur.  They got in big trouble. They’re still having trouble over it by the way. So when we try to work out God’s things before its time, sometimes we sure can get in trouble, can’t we?  Have you ever been in trouble?  I’ve been in lots of trouble. So I know what I’m talking about. 

So this word perfected means matured.  He had matured to the place where he was faithful to God.  It says, or completed…. Be completed in his faithfulness. Abraham was firm in his commitment to God so God could count on him. God could count on him.  Have you ever heard somebody say, well I’ll be there at a certain time, or I’ll be there to meet you and they don’t show up?  When they do that very much to you, you don’t make any more dates to meet them, do you?  When people do this they can’t be counted on.  But then there are other people who say they’ll be there at a certain time and at a certain place and they’re there.   Exactly at the time every time whenever they tell you. God wants us to learn that. And He wants us to practice on each other.  When you tell somebody you’re going to be there at a certain time. You be there. Why? Why do I have to be there right on time?  You be there on time because you are being faithful.  You are being faithful to your word, faithful to your friend, faithful to this person that you have made a commitment to.  You are a practicing on men and women so that you can be faithful to God and keep your word. You be faithful to others because if you start breaking your word on people, you’re going to break your word on God. I used to teach this church when I had a small group I had just a few of them. I said you keep your word even when it’s to your hurt. Now I know there’s times when you make a commitment and do have to break it.   And it’s legal.  You can do that.  But don’t be wishy-washy.  Be steady. Be faithful. Be firm. Be committed in who you are as a person before God and before man. I used to tell them to always keep your word. Always be on time. Always do what you say to other people that you will do, do it.

It says Abraham trusted God and was trustworthy to Him. He staggered not but was steadfast in his resolve and determination, in his obedience before the Lord.  To stagger means he wavered not.  He did not waver in his commitment to God, in his walk with God.  See, we can commit to God in our minds and we can commit to God with our mouth. What about our life? How are we walking?  Are we walking committed to God? This is very, very important, how we live. I’m not perfect. I haven’t reached the end of my life yet. Maybe when I step over I’ll reach that level of maturity. But I’m on my way.  I’ll tell you what if I’ve got anything to do with it I’m going to be committed till the end of my last breath.  And that’s the way we all should become. 

For many believers in Yeshua, the question, do you have faith in God and do you believe in God are equivalent.  Are they?  Do you have faith in God?  Do you believe in God? Are they equivalent?  Are they equal?   Given the Greek and the Western mindset we tend to reduce faith to belief.  Trust, conviction or assurance about what is true. I’m convinced this is true. The Greek word to believe denotes the act of believing in or having confidence in something or someone. Right belief is in fact a component of New Covenant teaching about faith. Biblical faith is more than believing rightly in something.  It is being steadfastly faithful to someone. And that’s the Lord. Mainly the One who is faithful and true, which is the Lord God Himself.  The inspired apostolic writings that we call New Covenant emerged from within and were built upon the heart of the Tanakh or the Old Testament and the Prophets in Jewish theology.   And central to that tradition is the word emunah concept of Faith.  Faithfulness or emunah is one of the most treasured and trusted character traits of God Himself.    What if God were not faithful?  Would you serve Him?  Would you even go to His book and read it?  Would you read what He tells you to do and what He tells you He’s going to do if you know He breaks His word all the time?  No. You wouldn’t trust Him.  You wouldn’t give your life. You wouldn’t lay down your life for Him. He laid down His life for us.   He was faithful. 

Faithfulness of emunah is one of the most trusted character traits of God Himself.  So if I am faithful, and I have emunah in my life, then I have a characteristic of God. I have a characteristic of God.  Wouldn’t you want that?  The Word says, “O Lord God of Hosts, Who is like Thee? Almighty God, Almighty Lord.  Thy Faithful, emunah, surrounds Thee.”  On the last day of his life, Moses declared in prophetic utterance … on the last day of his life.  For I proclaim the name of Yahweh.  Ascribe greatness to our God. The Rock. His word is perfect. For all His ways are just. A God of Faithfulness, emunah and without injustice. He is without injustice. Righteous and upright is He. He is trustworthy. This is what Moses says about his God. 

When God says it’s time to go.  I want you to go up to the mountain now. The Israelites didn’t see Moses anymore.  Time to go.  Even in the midst of God’s terrible judgment upon his rebellious children, and even in the midst of this, the grieving prophet Jeremiah he says…   can find comfort in God’s covenant and loyalty and His faithfulness.  Even when we totally walk away from God we can find the faithful God is still right there trying to bring us in to the promises and covenants of God. That’s faithful!  This is the faithful God who serves.  He says this I recall.  Therefore I have hope the Lord’s loving kindness, chesed, indeed never ceases, for His compassion never fails.  My compassion might fail, but not His.  So God is so far beyond … because I know how faithful He is to me.  When you realize how much someone loves you and cares for you, you become faithful.  Sometimes we never know that.  He says, therefore I have hope.  The Lord’s loving kindness, chesed, never ceases for his compassion never fails.  They are new every morning and great is Thy faithfulness emunah. That God’s chesed and his emunah are often joined together in scripture is not surprising.  So His faithfulness and His mercy are joined together.  God’s mercy is always faithful.  Did you hear me? Isn’t that wonderful? His mercy is always faithful. 

It says that the central attributes, characteristics, or strengths of God of Israel chesed or emunah are demonstrated supremely in His son.  Emunah, faithfulness, and mercy were the characteristics of Jesus.   He was so faithful.  Every step He took, everywhere He went, He was giving a revelation of the Father.  He was teaching everywhere He went who the Father was and how to receive salvation.  Everything He did.  All of his healings and teachings, everything He did with mercy.  He was trying to demonstrate to everyone He came close to who God was.   Just like Abraham.  Except even more so.  It says here that these are all demonstrated in Yeshua the son and His work at the Cross.   Because of the Father’s amazing grace and His son burning faithfulness, through Him, burning within His soul, He wanted every single man to be saved. 

And I think every single person in here can remember when our relationship with God was restored. Our friendship was made with God.  It says we are reconciled, or we have a broken relationship but it’s been restored.  Back to the Father and joined to the family of God as adopted sons and daughters.  No where is this grand revelation spoken of more eloquently than in Paul’s epistles to the community of Jewish and non-Jewish believers in Rome.   With our Hebraic understanding of faithfulness one of the Protestant’s favorite faith texts from Romans can be made clearer by saying faithful, faithful. 

This is Paul’s clear writing. Now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been made manifest. Clear. Being witness by the Law, in other words the Law witness to us. Not in a court, when someone witnesses to something they are saying this is true.  So the law witnessed to this. And the prophets witnessed to this.  So the prophets and the Law gave evidence that this truth was real. They revealed it in the Law.  But now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been made manifest being witnessed by the Law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua, the Messiah, for all of those who believe.  Or who are faithful, Hebraic understanding--the faith spoken of here.  Whose is it? Whose faith is this?  Is it mine or is it Jesus?  The faith spoken of here, whose is it?  The New Testament Greek is open to either, faith in Yeshua Messiah or the faith of Yeshua Messiah. To the Hebraic mind it says that this is not a frustration. For the Rabbinic trained apostle Paul, both truths are essential to affirm or make this very clear.  The latter part of the verse emphasizes that this righteousness or redemptive action of God is to set matters right, it’s appropriated by those who believe. On the other hand, the basis of their faith, basis of their faith, having power is the faith of Yeshua.  In other words the faith that gave us all power was the faith of Yeshua Himself for you to be saved and come to the Lord, His faithfulness unto his death. If he had not been faithful unto His death, faithful to die, you would not have been reconciled. Isn’t that amazing?  It says here His faithfulness unto death on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  It is His faithfulness that saves us and by that it became ours by faith.  This bears repeating.  It is Yeshua’s act of obedience unto death that saves us.  Not a mere act of mental ascent on our part.  We are not saved by our works, but we are saved by His works and His faithfulness. 

It says that we apprehended or understand it or take hold of it.  In other words if you have the money to pay a debt and you don’t take the money to pay the debt nothing is paid.  You do not appropriate what has been given to you to pay the debt.  But if you believe and take hold of the faithfulness of Jesus on that cross your debt is paid in full.  Isn’t that good?  I just love that.   It says that it is accounted to us for righteousness.  Like his Father in Heaven, Yeshua abounds in grace, in chesed, Mercy, towards us.  And like our father, Abraham He walked by His faithfulness, emunah.   He truly is the seed of Abraham and therefore those in Messiah share in the covenant, promises and blessings granted to the great patriarchs of our faith. 

What then should be our response? How shall we live?  The Biblical pattern is clear and consistent in both testaments, old and new.  The Biblical pattern is clear and consistent or the same in both testaments.  God’s gracious initiative must always be enjoined by faithfulness on the part of His people.  We are saved by His grace.  But in response to this, our walk of faithfulness is called forth. In other words God asks have you really accepted my atoning works for your debt that you owe?   What is the debt that we owe? We owe a debt for our sins.  Life.  Give me your life.   I’ve given you mine. I’ve paid for it. You’ve taken that. Now appropriate it and you will have life.  So He says… He calls us to be faithful. I’ve been faithful to you, you be faithful to me.  We must be doing the good deeds for which we have been created and covenant in by Yeshua.  Works that were preordained by God that we should walk in them.   Faithfulness, emunah is a walk, a journey that is characterized by steadiness, persistence, firmness, fidelity and loyalty.   We have a role model for this kind of righteousness living. Our model is Abraham, the man of faith and the Father of the faithful.   We too shall be blessed if we walk in the footsteps of his faithfulness.

In Habakkuk it says that the main truth of the whole word of God is to be faithful.  Not surprising this text is viewed in Jewish Tradition as one of the ones summarizing principles of the whole Torah.  Six hundred and thirteen commandments are fulfilled in your faithfulness.  How about that?  Isn’t that great?  It says that it can be summarized in a way by this one word, consisting of only three words in Hebrew and it’s the righteous by his faithfulness he shall live, it shall be fulfilled.  It said this is the essence of Biblical faith, and without this kind of faith, it is impossible to please God.  Hebrews 11 is the Hall of Fame, it honors those righteous ones who were faithful and even their deaths were an example of being faithful.  Among them is Abraham Avinu, which means Abraham our Father.  When reading this scripture substitute the word faithfulness for the word faith.  Whenever you see the word Faith, see faithfulness.  It says for a fuller appreciation of our Father Abraham. 

By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place where he was to receive for an inheritance he went out.  Not knowing where he was going. So I’m going to ask you people right now have you ever been to heaven? When you came into the Kingdom of God did you actually really realize what it was all about?  Did you actually really know where you were going? Did you actually understand everything about it?  No you didn’t.   I’ll tell you the way most of you found the Kingdom of God. You were in trouble and you needed mercy.  Someone held out their hand to you and said I know where you can get it.   From our Father God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. And you found mercy. You didn’t know where you were going.  You don’t know where you are going now.   You don’t know what it is in Heaven.  You don’t know what the passage is to get there; you don’t know how you’re going to get there. You’re just trusting that God knows what He’s doing.   And you know what, that’s OK. But we should remain faithful; faithful to God. I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to hold.  I don’t know what the week after is going to hold.  But you know what people, if we’ve accepted Yeshua, and we have believed and we are faithful, we know where we are going.  We do know that.  And we can trust in the faithful God.  That is what is so wonderful about this walk. 

By faith Abraham lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.   He was looking for a city, which had foundations with an architect, and a builder, which was God Himself.    You know even though I live in a tent and tents wear out.  I want to be saved and I’m going to step out of this tent and somebody’s going to say, oh look at that tent, it decayed.  Wonder what the person was like.  Where does the person go?  How many people have been on the earth?  How many people does God know about?  He knows about every one of them, every hair on their head is numbered.  He knows about all of them.  That’s the faithful God. He keeps count. So not knowing where he was going, but I do know where I am going.  It says … the Word from the Lord came to Abraham to begin his journey was Lech Lehah, go ye forth.   Lech from the word Challa that means to go, to come, or to walk.  It’s the root of the important rabbinic term Halakah, how the Jewish people walk or go forth with God in obedience to His commandments in the Word of God. More significantly the Lord relates the command to Abraham in Hebrew to the invitation extended by Yeshua to those with hearts that want to be discipled.  Do we want to be discipled by the Lord?  I do.  I want to sit at His feet.  I want to be taught in every way.  And if you are in a trial today and if the devil is lying to you today, it’s time for you to listen to God.  That is if you want to be taught of God. If you don’t, then stay where you are.  God is trying to get you through something and over something that you need to take care of in your life. And if you don’t, you will stay there, you will never go past that point.  But if you want to go on with God you’ve got to take care of the problem that’s in your life today because you’re not going to go beyond that.  You have to take care of it.  And blessed people, God loves us. But if there is a problem and there is something you have not taken care of you need to do it today and you will grow and soar and you will move on with you life. But if not, you’re going to go around the wilderness another time until you take care of this problem that’s coming against you today.  It’s the enemy of your soul coming against you and it’s lying to you—Stop!  And let God change your heart. 

He says to me Follow me.  It’s the usual translation, but literally it can be rendered, walk after me, go forth with me. Abraham was sent forth of God on a mission. He is responding in faithfulness and God made him the father of a people.  Look where God brought him, to represent Himself in the earth.  Do we want to represent God? I want to represent God in my life.   I want to be sent forth.  .  I thought, you know, in this town, right here, there are thousands of people who are unsaved.  Let’s go. Let’s bring them in.  Let’s do something about it.  Let’s speak to them. Let’s show them.  Our neighbors.  Who’s unsaved around us?  Find them and bring them in.  It says Abraham responded in faithfulness and he became the father of the nation, a striking parallel.  

When the fullness of the time came God sent forth his blessed Son, my savior, my love.  He came on a mission.  He was an apostle.   He was a prophet. He was king. He was God dwelling in the flesh. He came forth on a mission to save you and me.  And it says he accomplished it, He was faithful to the end.   He never let anybody turn Him aside, He set his face like flint towards what God called Him to do and He never stopped. He never stopped. 

When I was in Israel the archeologist that we had who led us in Israel, he took us to a place.  But he took us to a place and he showed us a hole in the ground that was right straight down in the ground. And it was probably the type that’s sealing down into the ground.  And tradition says that after the Romans tortured Him, played a game with His life, that they let Him down with a rope, down into the ground, and there’s where he spent the night.  With scorpions with snakes whatever was in there.  He was put in the ground.  But he was safe.   It says that he could have called… He was God…. He could have stopped it and said Man isn’t worth this but He didn’t do that.  He could have called every Angel in Heaven.  He did not have to die. But he chose to be faithful to His father and to the will of God and to the Word of God.  He wasn’t going to change it just because it got difficult.  He was faithful to the end.  I want to be like that.  Do you?  As a result of his righteous acts we now are adopted sons and daughters of God. 

Through God’s Son, Abraham becomes our father and He comes into our heart. God has now sent forth the Spirit of His Son, crying, Abba Father into our hearts.  Abba Father. And we cry out to God in our need. Do you have a need? Do you cry out to God?  And then what does He say. Follow my Son.  He then summons us to walk after Him, follow the Son, to be discipled of Yeshua.  Discipled of Yeshua means to be taught of the Lord.  In this way we follow in the steps of our father Abraham. 

Let us consider the patriarchs who have gone on before us.   Let us consider Yeshua who has gone on before us. Are we going to act in a vulgar way and be ashamed of our lives in the end when we take our last breath to step over?  I don’t want to do that. I want to be in the place where I know I’ve done everything I can do, that I’ve changed everything that needs to be changed, that I’ve confessed everything that needs to be confessed.  And I repented over everything that needs to be repented and I’m ready to go.  Are you ready to go?  And if we’re not, let’s get that way fast. 

 Back to Nuggets from God's Word