If you watch a lot of sports, every now and then you see a play that is against all odds. A moment when the incredible happens and despite what the “facts” say something else happens, such a moment happened last month as the U.S. soccer team beat the Algerian soccer team to advance to the next round of the World Cup finals. Unfortunately those moments don’t happen often enough in sports or in real life.
Consider the oil spill in the gulf. So far none of the attempts to seal the well and stop the leak have worked. They do have some kind of cap on it siphoning off some of the oil but a lot is still escaping and as the hurricane season gets under way they may have to pull that cap off. There are countless stories everyday in the papers, on the news and in our own lives that point to disappointment and despair. According to Dante, written over the gates of hell are the words; “Abandon Hope, You Who Enter.”
Now whether or not those words are actually written over the gates of hell doesn’t really matter for they speak the truth because in hell God is absent and where God is absent there is no hope. But where God is present then there is hope and everything works out according to His purpose against all odds.
Pastor Paul reminds us of this in our scripture today when he talks about Abraham and Abraham’s belief and faith in God. Now Abraham was 75 years old when God first came to him and told him to leave his country, his father’s house and that God would make Abraham into a great nation. Now 75 isn’t ancient, but lets face it those of us are getting close to that number or have attained it, well we aren’t spring chickens anymore. And we know that Abraham and Sarah didn’t have any children at this age. Abraham may not have been too worried after all his father was 70 when Abraham and his brothers were born. Of course we don’t know how old Abraham’s mother was when he was born. But I’m guessing that there were at least the seeds of doubt in Abraham’s mind when God told him at the ripe old age of 75 that he was going to be the father of a great nation.
It must have been a few years later when God appeared to Abraham again and made the promise to Abraham that he would be a great nation and have countless descendants. The account is found in Genesis 15 starting in verse 1; “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." 2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars — if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Abraham believed that God would and could do what God promised and therefore it was credited to him as righteousness. Now this doesn’t mean Abraham didn’t stumble, or falter or even have doubts. In fact when Abraham was 86 years old he had a son with Sarah’s handmaiden Haggar, which we all know has caused all kinds of problems that persist to this day. That is often what happens when we try to take matters into our own hands. But this raises a question with us doesn’t it? Why did God wait so long to fulfill his promise to Abraham and Sarah? If God had given them a son right in the very beginning, when Abraham was 75 and Sarah 65, that would have been a miracle then too. Abraham and Sarah would not have attempted to make God’s promise come true.
But sometimes it’s hard for us to understand the ways of the Lord, it’s difficult for us to be patient, it’s difficult for us to keep hope when we must wait for it. Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years for the promise of God to be fulfilled. What is so wonderful about their story is that after 25 years there wasn’t a snowballs chance that Sarah would bear any children. She was old by Biblical standards of old, and the writers make that clear I like how The Message translates it in Genesis 18 verse 11 “Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies.” And yet against all odds, Isaac is born, the promise is fulfilled, God has kept His word and done the impossible, for with God all things are possible. And because Abraham believed, had faith that God would do what God promised He would it is credited to him as righteousness and it also gave him hope.
As I was working on the sermon today I thought about Dante’s idea of the message that all who enter hell should abandon hope. And you may of have noticed the message I placed above the clock. You will see it as you leave if you didn’t see it earlier but it says, “Abandon Hope, You Who Exit Without Faith in Jesus”.
You see the world throws all kinds of hopeless situations at us that end in disappointment and ruin.
We hope…that the tests would be negative.
We hope…the fertility treatments will work.
We hope…he will stop drinking.
We hope…she will quit using drugs.
We hope…the therapy will work.
We hope…the economy will turn around.
We hope…we will get that job.
We hope…we will pass the test.
We hope…
But for those of us who believe our hope is different, it isn’t a wishing that something will happen it is knowing that we must wait patiently for that day when God will reveal to all of creation who His children really are and He will give eternal life to all who have believed in His Son Jesus.
If you leave here today without believing in Jesus, without accepting Him as your savior then you have no hope, because apart from Jesus and God the Father who gives all who believe in Jesus the right to become Children of God there is no hope. There is this life and then hell. I pray that you will not leave here today without knowing Jesus, knowing the love He has for you, knowing that He died to pay for your sins, knowing that by believing in Him you can have hope. If you haven’t ever confessed your belief in Jesus before, haven’t every accepted Him as your savior I encourage you to come forward as we prepare to celebrate what Jesus has done for us and the hope He has given to all who believe in Him.
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