Frank is a wonderful Christian man. I feel certain you would like him if you met him. He is one of the young pillars of his church and wise beyond his years. But let me tell you a little bit about him. Frank grew up in a home with a father who never seemed to be able to hold down the same job for very long. He wasn’t lazy…he was restless. The grass was always greener on the other side of the fence. The next job was always going to put them on easy street and they would never have to worry about money again. But it never worked out the way Frank’s father envisioned it. So they were constantly on the move from this house to that, from this town to that town, and from this school to that school. Sometimes Frank’s dad had pretty decent jobs and they spent all their resources trying to catch up on overdue bills and late mortgage payments. Then they would be between jobs and there was nothing or on occasion, some unemployment benefits. Frank’s mom was a master at making due with food stamps and handout lines at churches. Frank hated this lifestyle and swore that he would never put his family through something like that. He was committed to someday having a stable lifestyle and a steady job, even if he did not make a killing with his salary.

          Frank was able to go to the local state college and get his degree in mechanical engineering. Although Frank did not grow up in a Christian home, he was interested in spiritual things from the time he was a child. While he was in college, he was introduced to a Bible study that met in his residence hall. There he discovered a dimension of life that he had been looking for since childhood. He asked Christ to come into his life and it was a serious commitment. There was no turning back on this commitment. But then it happened. Frank went to something called “Urbana” back in Chicago during the Christmas break. He wasn’t sure what it was all about but after he got there he realized that kids were there from all over the United States and there were thousands of them worshiping and praising God. It was like heaven. Wow! But secondly, it was all about missions. Each speaker told of the tremendous needs in many parts of the world and challenged the kids to respond to God’s call to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. God’s was definitely tugging on Frank’s heart strings. On the last night of the conference, Frank could stand it no longer. He went forward and committed himself to global missions and to give his future to God for foreign mission work. It was a definite call from God.

          Then reality set in. Frank graduated from college and was immediately snatched up a local heating and air conditioning company. He married a wonderful Christian lady and they immediately started a family. He doesn’t make a ton of money but they are comfortable with a nice little “starter” home in a nice neighborhood. The call for missions is still there but Frank reasons that he has time and that he may be able to do more for missions by being a strong financial supporter of missions than by actually going himself. Perhaps his kids will be the ones to go or maybe he will go after the kids are raised and on their own. He just can’t get away from his promise to himself that he will have a stable home for his family where they do not move constantly and where they do not have to wonder where the next meal will come from. But neither can he escape God’s call on his life for missions. What is Frank really struggling with?

          Abraham is an incredible example of faith. This man had it all and was willing to leave it all and follow God to some forsaken land way off on the horizon. Abraham did not even know this God who was calling him to make this hairbrained trip into nowhere. Jehovah God was not one of his family’s gods. He had nothing tangible to hold onto. There were no idols he could take with him and no indwelling Holy Spirit like you and I know. Yet he trusted God to do what He said He would do and to take care of him. He was not weak in faith and when God told him he was going to have a child in his old age, he refused to look at his old withered flesh or the fact that Sarah had not been able to have children. But he did not look around him at the difficulties presented to him by outward circumstances. He did not waver when confronted by the seeming impossibility of the promise God made to him. Our text today says that he was strong in faith and that he thanked God for the answer before he had any evidence that it would be accomplished.

          What we need to understand is that Abraham did not have faith in faith…he had faith in God. Faith by itself is worthless. It is like a plant that is pulled out of the ground. In a matter of hours, the plant is scorched by the sun and withers and dies. But when faith is rooted and grounded in an object that is worthy of faith, the faith grows and develops and ultimately reproduces and accomplishes great things.

          Back in the late fifties and early sixties, the new highway along the Columbia river gorge was built and finally finished. One of the main bridges that was built in the process was the John Day bridge over the river of the same name. It was a wonderful bridge and looked great when driving over it. I placed my faith in it and drove over it many times on my way to and from school. Then the terrible storm of 1965 hit and snow fell in feet not inches where snow does not usually fall. Traffic ground to a halt and people were stranded in their cars along the gorge. Rescue teams were sent in to get people who were stranded and who had run out of gas for their cars. But the worst was yet to come. In a matter of hours, a warm rain came and began melting the snow and causing floods. The John Day river instantly swelled to flood stage and began roaring down the mountain to the Columbia. A doctor and his family stopped on the John Day bridge to look at the roaring water below at exactly the time that the bridges underpinnings gave way and he and his children were swept away to their death with the collapse of the bridge. A short time later a group of teenagers who were partying and drinking came speeding down the highway and missed the “bridge out” signs and they were swept away to their deaths as well.

          Years later the truth was found out. The company that constructed the bridge had cut costs and had not gone down to bedrock as the blueprints had dictated. The bridge looked good but it was faith in faith and not faith in an object that was worthy of faith. Abraham’s faith was faith in bedrock…God. Strong faith is faith that is willing to exercise and take steps into the unknown. “Our faith is being tested like fire tests gold” (I Pet. 1:7). God will take us through difficult times to allow our faith to grow. We are tested. If we are willing to exercise our faith, we will be given more as seen in the parable of the talents.

          In our opening story, Frank has placed his faith in his ability to provide a stable setting for his family. He was determined not to put his family through what his father put him through. Frank has placed his faith in himself. Yet to the rest of his church family, Frank is a great man of faith. Frank is like the John Day bridge. It looked great but it had not gone down to bedrock.

          Not only did Abraham trust God to do what he himself could not do, he also gave praise to God for the answer before the answer came. That takes an incredible step of faith. Everyone knew about Abraham’s faith. He was not silent. He went out on a limb and exposed his faith and put God on the line. He thanked God from the first instance. Most of us are cautious in showing our hand in case God does not come through. We don’t want to be left holding the bag looking silly. Abraham was sure that God would fulfill His promise of a child to be born to him even though he was a hundred years old. “He was fully persuaded that what God promised, he was also able to perform.” His life became an attitude. That is what real faith does. It takes control. We begin to live our lives in an attitude of constant surrender. “Lord, You are in control. Your are the Potter…I am the clay. Mold me and make me…I am surrendered to Your control. If You tell me to go…I am on my way. If you tell me to stop…it is done.”

          Jesus said, “He that believes in me…out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). That can only happen when we are deeply rooted in bedrock and deep is calling to deep. It comes when we have so surrendered to the God Who lives in us that His life flows out of us rather than our own life being in control. Even though Frank appears to be a victorious Christian, he is tired. He is the cause of his own effect. Rivers of living water are not flowing out of him because he is the control of his own life rather than God. He is afraid to trust God because God will take him out of his comfort zone.

          “Abraham’s faith and trust grew ever stronger.” He was being renewed daily whereas Frank is growing more and more weary. II Cor. 5:7 talks about us walking by faith and not by sight. Frank is walking by sight and not by faith. He thinks that faith is a function of his inner self rather than an overflow from obedience to the Christ in Him. Frank is afraid to go out on a limb where he cannot grab a branch if something should happen. True faith acts because it is joined to God, its object. If we look away from God, the attitude of the soul turns to sight, and is no longer faith.

          Now…this is what is important for us to understand…Abraham’s faith was strong because God spoke to him and told Abraham what He was going to do. When God speaks either through His Word or to us personally, we can accept that by faith and count on it. What we are not saying is that if I want a new red car that I can go to God and by faith believe that He is bound to give it to me. Those are two very different things.

          The difference is directly related to our relationship with God. When we are seeking God with all of our heart, God guides our thoughts through His Word or through the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Those leadings are the thing through which we can put down deep roots of faith. God will affirm those things through a series of events as he did with Abraham. He looks for our obedience to His will and then as we respond like Abraham, He pours out more of His Spirit to us as we increase our capacity for more faith.

          God is looking for those who do not walk by sight but by faith. He is looking for those whose relationship with Him is such that we are able to hear His still, small voice speaking to us. He is looking for those who do not stagger at the promises of God and who do not let the outward circumstances of life dim their view of God’s greatness. He wants us to discover Him as a great, great God Who can do the impossible. Is the God that others see in you a great, great God? Do you resemble Abraham or Frank?