Okay, again good morning to everyone. It’s a joy to be back here with you as we worship God together, but I cannot help now even though it is indeed a joy to gather, not just with people in the Klang Valley but also in different parts of this nation and also in other parts of the world. But I say I can’t help coming each time on the Lord’s Day in this manner with a tinge of sadness. I’m reminded time and again of what the psalmist wrote in Psalms 42: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”. And then the psalmist says: “When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God”. And so every time I come to verse 4, I’m thinking that when would the day come when we all could again go together to the house of God. And I do believe that we all should pray for the Lord to intervene. Now though it is by no accident that we are all in this particular situation, remember the first hymn that we sang at the beginning of this live streaming series: “All the Way My Saviour Leads Me”, and there’s a line that says that “whatever befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well”. So God makes no mistake.

We are in this situation. It is to bring honour and glory to God; it is for the good of our own soul. So let us come this morning again to study the Word of God. And you remember we are doing, studying the epistle to the Hebrews and chapter 11. So let me just read. Actually, our text is verses 11 and 12, but I’d just like to read beginning in verse 1 to give us sort of the context. So Hebrews 11:1, which says: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it being dead still speaks. Now by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”. Alright so before we look at our text this morning, let us go to God in prayer again. Let us pray.

“Eternal God and our heavenly Father, we come together this morning once again seeking to worship You, seeking to honour You because You are worthy of glory and honour and power. And we do come and pray that You will also humble us, for we are mindful that we are sinful being, coming before a God who is holy, holy, holy, that we are people who are prone to wander away. And so often in our life even as redeemed people that we have not focused our minds on things above, but so easily being distracted by the concerns and the allurement of this world. And Lord, we pray that You might continue to teach us, have patience with us, and help us. Grant to us grace to live out that life that is pleasing before You.

And we also pray for all who are gathered this morning from different places. We know perhaps we are in somewhat a different situation. Lord, we do look to You, for You know all of us. You know our situations. You know our concern and cares. And we want to thank You that as Your people we can come to You so freely and commit to You our cares and our worries, that we have that precious promise that if we cast all our cares upon the Lord Jesus, He cares for us.

Lord, we pray also that You’ll help us to be people who desire to grow in Your grace and in the knowledge of Your Son. And we pray therefore this morning that You might be pleased to bless this time as we come and study Your Word. And we pray once again for the Spirit of God to enlighten us, to open up our eyes to see wondrous truth in Your Law. And so we commit the rest of the time unto Your hands, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Okay, Hebrews chapter 11. As a reminder, it is a chapter on faith. And we have seen thus far as we study this subject of faith the meaning of faith alright in verse 1. And then we have also learned about the importance of faith in verses 2 through 6. And then in verses 7 through 10, we learned about the proof of faith. Now today we are going to look at the basis or the basis of faith. And by basis, I mean the ground, or you might say the reason for believing. The ground or the basis. For example, now if today, afterwards if you would go out and then you carry an umbrella, and I ask you: Why are you carrying an umbrella? Well, you say because it is going to rain.

I say why do you think so that it is going to rain? You say because the weatherman said so last night alright, so it’s a weather report. Now the reason for carrying that umbrella is because you believe in the weatherman, and the basis for it is that he is an expert, you know, on weather. And from his expertise and his experience, now you can trust him. So that is the basis of your trust. Or if we all go out afterwards to do some shopping, we would all be wearing a face mask. And again I want to ask why are you wearing a face mask? Because you would say I trust in the advisory given by the health department or by the director-general of the health ministry. So that is the basis.

They are the experts, we trust them, we take their advice, and therefore our actions reflect our trust. Now, so I want to ask this morning as we come alright to study this passage: Now, what is the basis of the Christian faith? Now that is what we are talking about here. Now Christians are believers. You believe in something. What do you believe in? Like Abel, he trusted in the God-ordained way to approach God. So he brought the right sacrifice as he comes and approach God. Or like Enoch, why was he, now what’s the basis of his faith alright? Now because he believed in God alright. Or Noah, his action, his life, why did he build the ark? Because he believed in God.

Now then we ask alright: These people, they believed. You are a believer. Why is it that they believe in these things? Now I think that is the question we want to ask ourselves this morning as we approach this subject: Why are you a believer in the first place? Why do you believe those things that you believe in? Now our text here draws attention to two examples and that of Abraham and his wife, Sarah to show us this aspect of faith. Remember the writer here is explaining faith- the meaning, the importance, the proof, and now the basis. And so he helpfully brings out examples so that we can see in more concrete manner what he’s trying to tell us. Alright so let’s now look at these two examples, Sarah and her husband, Abraham, concerning the basis of faith.

And there are just three things I thought I want to share concerning them alright. And the first thing as we try to understand the basis of faith is this. Now the first thing to note is to take note of the difficulty, or what I might call the difficulty of faith, or the problem of believing. Now is it easy in other words to believe? Is it easy to believe? Is it easy to live a life of faith? Now it depends. It depends on what you are asked to believe in. So what are you required to believe as a Christian? Now I hope you have actually ever asked yourself that question because like I said earlier on that Christians are believers. You believe in something, and you must know what you’re believing in. So what are Christians required to believe in?

Well, we are required to believe in God. Well, not just any gods, but the God of the Bible, the Triune God, the God who existed now with His Father, and Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now we are required to believe in Jesus that Jesus is Lord. We must be able to say that Jesus is Lord. We are required to believe in judgement, the coming judgement. We are required to believe in heaven and hell and many other things. So those are the things you are required to believe in as a believer, as a Christian. But also there are other things that we are to believe in.

Now I hope you realise that now as you think about your Christian life. You know your life is a life of faith, so there are many things you believed in, and then you live your life in light of those things. Now what else are you required to believe in? You might remember what Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew 6:19-20. Now Jesus said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”. Now, do you believe what Jesus said? Now Jesus is telling you now there is such a thing or such a place as heaven.

That’s the place that we are going, and He says that we ought to live our lives believing in the future. And therefore we are investing in the future, not just this immediate future but in the eternal future. Now that is what we Christians must believe in. And that belief will affect the way we live our lives in the way that Jesus mentions here that we will not live for this world. We will be like Abraham living in tents, not growing root deep into this world. We are always looking forward to that city “whose builder and maker is God”. We are laying up treasures not on earth. And so we don’t live our Christian life accumulating or amassing things of this world. Why?

Well, we’ll tell people because we believe in an eternal future. We want to lay up treasures in heaven, but only if you believe. But why do you believe that? Now first let’s consider what Christians believe. That is what Jesus is saying about our Christian life. And then He moves on. He said further on in the chapter in Matthew 6:31-33. He tells the disciples: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after these things (the unbelievers or) the Gentiles seek. But your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”.

Now, do you live your life that shows that you believe in what Jesus said here, that you are not like the rest of the world? The Gentiles, they go after these things every day as they wake up in the morning, and they go about their life. Their chief concerns are the things of this world, the cares of their body. Jesus says you do not have to worry about these things, but your priority is to seek first the kingdom of God. And you would only do so. You would only obey the Lord if you believe. So we Christians, we are believers. But so often alright- but so often we are in situations where it is difficult to believe. Now I grant that alright. So that’s what we are saying.

Now we believe in things, but there’s such a thing as the problem of believing or the difficulty of believing. And as Christians, I believe even the strongest Christian or the Christian with a strong faith from time to time will still have doubts in their mind, will still ask questions like really? Perhaps sometimes in our life, we wonder if God understands, if God really cares. You know maybe in some particular rough patch in our lives, doubts may come to our mind. So I’m not saying it’s easy to believe. I’m just saying that we must believe.

So there would be situations, as I say, where it is difficult to believe. Rough patches like when you’re in a poor health or struck with some illnesses, or where you might have a relationship problem, or where you have a job problem alright, or losing your job, or other financial situation that you might be in that gives you great difficulties. Alright so we might, I’m not sure, you might be in one of these situations, and you find it very difficult to believe. But what I want to invite you to do now and what the writer to the Hebrews is doing here is to invite us to look at these two persons: Abraham and Sarah. Think of what they were required to believe. Was it easy for them?

Now look at Genesis chapter 15, beginning in verse 1 alright- Genesis chapter 15, and here we are told that: “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, (Abraham or) Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.””. How often God comes to help us perhaps and say the same thing, don’t worry alright- don’t worry, I’m your shield and your exceedingly great reward? And then Abraham responded, verse 2: “And he said, “LORD God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!””. And so Abraham has difficulty understanding verse 1. What is it that God is saying here that he would have exceedingly great reward?

And he said I don’t even have a son to inherit, now whatever inheritance I might have? And perhaps this servant of mine, he would be my heir. And God said in the following verse, verse 4: “And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.””. Now listen to what God is saying to Abraham, say no, you will have a son because I’m going to give you a son. I said it’s not easy for Abraham to believe in this, neither was it easy for Sarah to believe. And that’s why we are told in Genesis 18:10-12, now which says here.

Genesis 18:10- “And God said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (And Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)”. So Sarah heard everything. And her response? Verse 12: Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?””. Now, this is an example of doubt. It’s hard to believe as far as Sarah is concerned. Why? Because it’s just impossible. God is making impossible promises, humanly speaking. And so she laughed alright in doubt. And so Hebrews 11 is kind of reminding us of their difficulties. That’s why in verse 11 of Hebrews 11, Sarah we are told was past the age, and in another translation actually included “and was barren”.

And we know that, that Sarah actually not only was an old woman, but she actually could not conceive. She was barren. And for Abraham, well verse 12 of Hebrews 11 tells us that he was as good as dead as far as reproduction is concerned alright. And so what we see here is that in the case of Sarah and Abraham and perhaps many, many Christians you know, we might be in situations where we find it really difficult to trust. We are people of faith. We are believers, and the first thing is that it is not easy. It’s not easy to trust. But how did God respond to their difficulties? How did God respond to their difficulties? Well again back to Genesis alright and chapter 15, and there in verse 5 we read.

Now this is how God responded to Abraham as Abraham was struggling to believe in the promises of God. So verse 5 of Genesis 15: “Then He (that is God) brought Abraham outside and said to him, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.””. Not only one, but your descendants, your children will be as many as the stars in the sky. Now that is how God responded to Abraham when he was in doubt. And then in verse 6 of Genesis 15, we are told: “And Abraham believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”. And Abraham believed. In other words, we are told Abraham believed despite the difficulty of believing. He believed even though it was not easy.

Now that begs the questions that we are dealing with this morning: Why? What is the basis? What is the ground of Abraham’s belief, such an impossible as it were promise? Now that leads us to the second thing I want to say about the basis of faith, about Abraham and Sarah this morning, and that is the basis. Now we come to the basis. Why did Abraham, I mean even Sarah also believed right later on, why did they believe? Answer? Now back to Genesis 11:11 (Mistakenly mentioned “Genesis”, supposedly “Hebrews”), and there we are told, now this is the basis. Now if you are those who underline your Bible, this is the part you may want to underline. “And Sarah judged Him faithful who had promised”. That is the reason. That is the basis why they believed in God.

In other words, the basis is the faithfulness of God. That is our second point, the faithfulness of God. Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness. We sing: “There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not”. Yes, God’s compassion. His loving-kindness, His mercy for us never fails. Now it is only when we come to see God in that way, it’s only when we come to this conviction about God that this is the God that we believe in, a God who is great in faithfulness. And I believe that that is the lesson that Sarah and Abraham had learned. Yes, they had went through life. Yes, for many, many years they were struggling with these difficulties.

And perhaps for us now, we might be thinking to ourselves: We are struggling with some difficulties in our life, and this has gone on for many, many years. But what sustains us? What is it that keeps us believing? The faithfulness of God. That is the basis alright- that is the basis of our faith. But we want to also enquire here: What is it that God had promised? Now that is also important. Remember verse 11 what is said of Sarah. He said: “And she judged Him faithful”. And it doesn’t stop that. It’s not saying God is faithful, but God is faithful who had promised. In other words to what He has promised. So the question now is: What is it that God had promised?

Now some of you might be familiar with an old song alright, and sometimes even sung in the church alright. And it goes like this: “God hath not promised skies always blue, Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God hath not promised sun without rain, Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.”. Now it’s just a reminder that we need to actually know exactly what God had promised because we live in a world where the church, I’m talking about the church, sometimes gives a message that is entirely false. In other words, we are making promises to people that God had not promised. Has God promised that we will never experience pain, never have sorrow? Had God promised that we will have perfect health? Had God promised that we will be rich? Now those are the questions we ask ourselves these days.

Now if we believe in these promises, thinking that these are the promises of God, and then you are not rich, and then you get sick, and then what? You’re thinking that God is not faithful? Now I’m saying that God had not promised those things. God, it says here: “she judged God faithful who had promised”. She knew exactly what God had promised. And so the question then is: What had God promised Sarah? And that is what Sarah needs to know. What had God promised us? That is what we all need to know. And we know what God had promised Sarah because in Genesis 21:1-2, now listen to these two verses. Now, this is what God had promised Sarah.

Genesis 21, beginning in verse 1: “And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.”. Now I want you to take note of these phrases here: “as He had said”, “as He had spoken”, “which God had spoken”. So Sarah knew exactly what God has said, what God had promised her. God is not going to give to us things that He had not promised. If He has not promised us wealth, don’t expect wealth. If He had not promised perfect health, don’t expect perfect health. And then, and don’t make that false promise to anyone. And so what is it that God had promised Sarah? God has promised Sarah a son.

Yes, it’s not easy. In fact, it’s impossible humanly speaking for her and for Abraham to have this son. But that is what God has promised. And if God has promised, He will be faithful to fulfil that promise alright- to fulfil that promise. As I said, we need to ask ourselves: What about us? What about us? Now let me tell you what God had promised His disciples, what God had promised or what Jesus had promised those who follow Him. Now listen to what He said in Luke chapter 9, and beginning in or in verses 57 and 58: “Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Jesus, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.””. Here is a follower of Jesus Christ.

“And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.””. This is what God has promised. This is what Jesus has promised those who follow Him- not an easy life. He promised that it will not be easy. Now it will not be easy to follow Jesus. We will have to carry our crosses. And Paul said very clearly that He was not a false prophet. He said very clearly that those who wish to live a godly life will be persecuted. Now that is what we are promised as followers of Jesus Christ. But we are also promised as Jesus tells us in John chapter 14.

John 14:27- “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”. Yes we are living in this very dangerous world, but Jesus promised, you don’t, you know, worry because I promised peace, peace in your heart. And so those are the promises of God. But also you might remember that as Christians, we are promised according to Romans 5:1, which says: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”, where Jesus promised peace in our heart. And that is a reference to that subjective peace, the peace that we can experience. But we are also promised an objective peace. There is peace with God, that we will be made right with God when we come to Jesus by faith.

Now those are the promises alright- those are the promises of God. So what does He promise you? You see we have to be clear about that. What did He promised Abraham and Sarah? Was it easy? But we can trust God. We can believe in Him. Why? Because we should, like “Sarah judge Him faithful who had promised”. Now that leads us to our third and final point alright as we continue to meditate on these two verses, and that is true faith waits alright. Faith is not easy alright, the difficulty of believing. But God is faithful, and true faith waits. Now again we see that in the case of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham received God’s great promise with faith. He believed, we are told in Genesis 15 alright. He heard that his descendants would be as the stars in the skies.

And then we are told he believed. And yet the years to come proved hard. As I said, Christian life is a life of faith, but the years that we live out our Christian life is not going to be easy. It’s going to prove difficult, just like in the case of Abraham. But that is the point here. An essential element of faith is wait. And perhaps that is the more difficult part alright. Now if we know that something is impossible but we get it immediately, now that is a different thing. But when we see ourselves in a difficult situation and then it has to be prolonged, we have to kind of wait it out.

And we find Abraham and Sarah struggled through those years. And Sarah struggled with this so much that she actually tried to help God out when she told Abraham to date her mate in order to produce a son. Now that is very often what we are prone to do as we wait and wait and wait till the time comes, we might be thinking to ourselves that God might need some help from us and we do some sinful things, now some human means to try to help God out. I say this is the kind of thing that we are so often tempted to do, to rush rather than to wait upon the Lord. But the point is this. The point about the faith of Abraham and Sarah is that faith must wait. Faith must wait.

The psalmist writes in Psalms 130:5, and this is what he said: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.”. Now that is faith. This is a verse about faith. It’s about waiting. Because I believed, I wait. I wait for the Lord because in His Word, in His promises, I hope. How can we wait? That’s often perhaps the question. Perhaps by now, many of us are convinced yeah, we are believers, and often we have to struggle through for a long period of time. But how can we wait? Now again the psalmist in Psalms 46:10, now this is how: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”. So this is the answer to that question: How can we wait?

It is to know God. “Be still, and know that I am God”. Wait. And the way we can wait is to know God. And so often we struggle in believing in the promise of God when we are going through the rough patches in our life, or when we’re in some particular situation. The reason for the difficulties in our struggle is because we do not really know God. And here we are seeing Sarah as a woman who knew God. (She) knew that her God could be trusted. How did she know? Because she knew of His attributes. That is how we know. Who is your God? What kind of God are you worshipping? What are His attributes? What is His character like? Is He a person of integrity? Can He be trusted? Did God ever lie?

That’s the reason why so often we cannot trust people because they disappoint us. They make promises but they do not fulfil. But the God whom we believe in is a God who cannot lie. Did you know that? You see that is the way to trust. That’s the way to wait. The ability to wait is when we know who our God really is. Do you know your God? Do you know what the Bible says about the character of God in 1 Thessalonians 5:24- “He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.”. Now that is Sarah’s God, and she knew that to be true. Do you? Do you?

Like I say, if we were to emulate the faith of Sarah and Abraham, that is to learn to trust in God even though when it is difficult to trust, to learn to trust in God even though it may mean struggling for years and years in your life. If you were to learn from or to be like Sarah and Abraham, then this is what you must have. You must know God. “Be still, and know that I am God”. How can you know God? That is what we are to do. Know God. But how? May I suggest to you a few things if you were to develop this knowledge of God? It doesn’t come in a vacuum, but it comes when you come to church.

Perhaps you say: Ah, we can’t go to church. Then come to the live-streaming. Come and hear the Word of God. If you were to know God, you must spend time with God. How often do you spend time with God, spend time meditating on His Word? You cannot know God through other means or in a vacuum. Now this is how you know God, to meditate upon His Word. You can only trust God if you know God. That is what we learn from Sarah and Abraham. Perhaps that’s the reason why so many are in doubt, so many struggle to believe because they do not have the knowledge of God as Sarah. “Be still, and know that I am God”, God said.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.