I want to speak to you for these next few moments upon the theme, Abraham, the man of faith. You'll remember that Abraham lived long before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came. Long before he was ever born of the Virgin Mary. Abraham, although he could look down through those centuries, saw our wonderful Lord. He was a man of faith. He was a man of victory. He was a man of temptations, similar to what we face every day. But he was a man that lived triumphant over all of the evil of that day. When I stop to think about Abraham, this man of God, called the friend of God, do you realize today that he is honored among the Jews? He is honored among the Arabs? He is honored among the Christians. He is honored among the Protestants. He is honored among the Catholics. And wherever the name of God is mentioned, Abraham is an honored character. Why? Not because he was a wealthy man. Not because, my dear friends, he was a Jew. But I tell you, simply because he was a man of faith. And if you want to be remembered throughout all eternity, you've got to be a man or a woman of faith. So many of us today want to walk by sight. We do not want to walk by faith. We want to see before we take a step. Moses came to the Red Sea, and there, you remember, was the great army of Pharaoh back of him, the wilderness on either side of him. And there he was. He had to go forward, God said. But to go forward was the ocean. In the world could he go forward into the sea? Why would he not drown? But when he started forward, God started opening the walls of the sea. And the Bible declares that Moses and all of the children of Israel marched through on dry ground. Faith. Faith, I tell you, will help you to take a step at a time into the Red Sea. Faith will help you to go through the fiery furnace. Faith will help you to face a den of lions. Faith will deliver you out of Herod's prison. Whatever it is, my dear friends, that we want of God, we must have faith to believe that God is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Simple faith, simple little childlike faith honors God, and God honors simple faith. So many of us try to work up into a great masterpiece of faith that disgusts the Lord. He just wants us to have the simple faith that a little three-year-old boy or a little three-year-old girl has in his dad or has in his mother. So, as we look here, we find that God says that we are justified by what? By faith. In Genesis 15 and 6, and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. In Romans chapter 4 and verse 3, for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So we find that faith justifies. Without faith it is impossible to please God. You could give God, if you were a millionaire, you could give God all of your millions and it still wouldn't please Him. Actually, if you were a rancher, you could give God all of the cattle on all of your ranch and it wouldn't please Him. But little simple childlike faith Faith in God pleases Him. You'll remember that when the blind man Bartimaeus cried out in his darkness of blindness and said, O thou son of David, thou son of David, have mercy upon me, he had faith. You'll remember that the woman that had the issue of blood, she came and creeping up to the Lord Jesus Christ said, but if I can touch the hem of his garment, and when she touched him, she touched him with a touch of faith and was immediately healed. And then we find the faith of enterprise. In Genesis 12, verse 4, So Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy and five years old, and he departed out of Haran. Think about it, my dear friends, here was a seventy-five-year-old man that God was saying, pull up stake, load up your furniture, get together all of your property, and move. Where, Lord? Where will I go? And God said, I'll show thee the place where I want you to go. But just pack up and get ready to go. How many of us have enough faith to do that? Some of you have been living in the same place for years and years. I believe that maybe I'm speaking to some man or woman that's 75 or over. And you've been living maybe in the same old house, maybe the same old plantation, maybe the same old farm. You've been right there. Maybe some of you in this city in the same house for these 65 or 70 years or longer. Now, what if God were to speak to you and say, get up? get out of this place go to another place where lord well you just pack up and get the truck down here and load up and then i'll tell you where to go why not many of us have that kind of faith and i imagine when the neighbors came in to see abraham and they said abraham we understand you're moving yes i am i'm leaving here and where you're going have no idea abraham said just don't know i just don't know well we uh... i've mentioned the neighbors went off and said don't you feel sorry for sarah Don't you feel sorry for her? She's got a husband that's gone off his rocker. She's got a husband actually that's lost his mind. Think about it, Abraham that's prospered. Look at all of the prosperity that he's had down here in Haran. And now that he's going to go somewhere he don't even know himself where he's going. Now that's walking by faith. That really is. Hebrews 11.8 says, by faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went now isn't that an amazing thing you know it's a wonderful thing brother to walk by faith Every day when I get up every morning when I get up I say Lord Direct me this day. I don't know the paths that I'm gonna take. I don't know the way that you will lead I don't know the things that I'm gonna face but anyone for my dear friends to walk with our hand in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the entire day and then come to the end of the day and know that he has led us to into the paths of righteousness for his name's sake some of you are rebellious and Some of you are stubborn. Some of you don't want God to lead you. Some of you don't want God to tell you what to do. Some of you say, I'm going to have my way and do my thing. And as a result of it, you've gone up a blind alley. You're in deep trouble. Some of you may be on the very brink and verge of bankruptcy. Some of you, I tell you, may be on the very brink and bank of suicide. You don't think there's any way out. You say, preacher, what's the use? I believe I'll just end it all. No, you're not going to end it all with a bullet. You're not going to end it all with a vial of poison. You're not going to end it all by jumping off a building. My dear friends, you're just going to really jump into the fire. Now, what can you do about it? Just ask God to forgive you. Just say, Oh, Lord, I've walked in my rebellious way. I've been stubborn. You know, Lord, I want to do my own thing. And you see what a miserable failure I've made. Now, God, forgive me. And our Lord will love you. And he does love you. And he'll forgive you. He'll really do it. I don't try to hide behind some camouflage. I'm a Baptist. Somebody wrote me and said, what kind of a Baptist are you? Are you an independent Baptist? Are you a southern Baptist? Are you a northern Baptist? Are you a conservative Baptist? Are you a no-hell Baptist? What sort of a Baptist are you? I'll tell you what kind I am. I'm a dependent Baptist. I'm a dependent Baptist. I'm dependent upon the sovereign God for every good and perfect gift. I'm depending upon the Savior, the Son of God, for His shed blood to cleanse me from my sins. I'm dependent upon the Spirit of God to give me direction and guidance and to show me all of the things of Christ. I'm dependent upon the Scriptures for authority in my preaching. I'm dependent upon the sanctuary of the church for my fellowship with the brethren. I'm dependent upon the saints, you that are listening to me right now, for my support. and I'm depending upon the sinners, all of the sinners, the citizens of this world, for my prospects to win them to Christ. So you see, I am a dependent Baptist. That's the kind I am. So we find that Abraham was a man justified by faith, enterprised by faith, and he was a man that was sanctified by faith. In Genesis 12, 8, the Bible says, And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east side of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west. and heron on the east, and there built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord." And then in Hebrews 11.10, the Bible said, For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11.13, These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. So we see then that Abraham was a man of faith. Are you willing to walk by faith, live by faith, give by faith, serve by faith? Are you? If you are, you can sit down when we get to heaven in the company of Abraham and his like. Our Father, take this little simple message we have brought today and use it for thy glory. Keep us on this station in Christ's name. Amen.